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INSPIRED Wales dealt Australia a reality check at Millennium Stadium, denying the spring tourists a rare northern hemisphere clean sweep with a gripping 21-18 victory.
The Wallabies were unable to recover from a chaotic first half in which they lost skipper Stirling Mortlock and winger Peter Hynes, both to head knocks, and also had hooker Stephen Moore sin-binned for a professional foul.
The battered Australians were fortunate not be trailing by more than five points at the break and, once Welsh fly half Stephen Jones potted a 76th-minute penalty goal to put his side eight points up, their dreams of becoming the first Wallabies since 1996 to complete a four-Test spring tour of Europe lay in tatters.
For Wales, it was an ecstatic end to a memorable year in which they also won the Six Nations crown and also challenged South Africa and New Zealand during their autumn program.
The Australians had been expecting a torrid time from the Wales' rushing defence, rated the fastest in world rugby, but they couldn't possibly have been expecting what transpired in the second minute.
Welsh centre Jamie Roberts absolutely pole-axed Mortlock in an ugly off-the-ball collision as the Australia captain appeared to be hunting an intercept.
Mortlock was in Disneyland and, after several minutes' treatment, had to be replaced, with rookie Quade Cooper being thrust into the centres.
The incident rattled the Wallabies while lifting Wales, who crossed for a breathtaking try just two minutes later.
And it was the newly-crowned world player of the year Shane Williams who completed the movement, the fleet-footed winger diving over in the right corner to give Wales a 5-0 lead.
Phil Waugh assumed the captaincy and had an almighty job trying to restore composure amongst the shell-shocked Wallabies.
Wales dominated for most of the first half, but a crucial 65m runaway try to lock Mark Chisholm, after he swooped on a loose ball at the back of a lineout, and Matt Giteau's conversion plus a 25th-minute drop goal briefly gave Australia a 10-5 lead.
The Wallabies' woes continued, though, with Hynes forced off on the half hour, prompting coach Robbie Deans to throw Lote Tuqiri into the fray for the first time all tour – before Moore received his yellow card in the 27th minute.
Wales took full advantage in his absence, full-back Lee Byrne running a beautiful line off a Williams short pass to score untouched in the 31st minute.
Jones' conversion gave the European champions a 15-10 half-time lead, but Deans would have been hugely relieved to get to his troops before any more damage was inflicted.
But there was little relief after the interval, with the Wallabies also having to contend with referee Alan Lewis – Australia's nemesis in the Bledisloe Cup loss to New Zealand in Hong Kong four weeks ago.
While missing countless Welsh forward passes, Lewis repeatedly punished the Wallabies again at the breakdown and only some wayward goalkicking from Jones prevented the home team from increasing their lead.
The final insults came in the closing five minutes when, after patiently working their way towards the Welsh line through gritty and well-constructed forward play, Lewis again pinged the Wallabies for a ruck infringement.
A minute later, Lewis handed Wales another penalty after Cooper had been tackled in the air, prompting the flabbergasted Wallabies to berate the Irishman, who marched Australia back 10 metres.
The advance allowed Jones to drive the final nail in the coffin with a 35m penalty goal.
A consolation try in the dying stages to winger Digby Ioane proved just that – scant consolation for a spirited but vain effort.
http://www.foxsports.com.au/story/0,...-23217,00.html
Has to be one of the most entertaining games I've watched this spring. It was certainly entertaining watching the Welsh play attacking rugby..none of the constant mindless kicking game that we've witnessed in previous games earlier this year. The Aussie game was a tad disappointing till desperation in the dying minutes forced some decent attacking structure and had they won, it would have been a travesty. Good on the Welsh and as suggested in the Australian yesterday, it was good to see a northern hemisphere team win "for the good of the game".
Shane Williams had a great home match...The Wallabies were always going to struggle once Mortlock was injured and without Ashley Cooper, George Smith and Palu on the field...
Overall a good tour for Deans new Wallabies...Wales were best on the day...I would expect the Wallabies vs Barbarians some of the young boys will get a bit of a run…
Can't say I agree that it was a 'good tour' Mudskipper.We seemed to struggle in every game and I couldn't see much improvement in the side as the Tour progressed.It's true
Wales were the better side on the day and congrats to them,but they were assisted by some lackluster defence, an area of the Walabies game that seems to have suffered under Deans, and continued ,mindless,kicking away of possession, as well as Ref who at best is bias and incompetent.
We looked the most dangerous in the last 2 minutes when we kept the ball in hand... alas no Cooper miricle to save us this time.
i feel sorry for Roberts, the guy who collided with mortlock, he has a fractured skull and he played another 15min after it happened
BOKKE“Let me put it this way, A Springbok team contains Afrikaners, Englishmen, coloureds and blacks. It has parochial foes in Bulls, Sharks, Stormers, Cheetahs and Lions. It is a recipe for war! Yet in all the years of John Smit’s captaincy, there has never been one unhappy customer, not one voice of rebellion against his leadership. He is the glue that holds the Springboks together. The man is a legend!”- Jake White
A good tour as in 4 wins, one loss and would have won Honkers but for the forward pass try given by the dippy Irish refer who names we cannot speak-ith....
They'll get better just year one with Deans. I think however the added experience deans and crew have given the new Wallabies this year will greatly assist the OZ S14 teams...
Well, congratulations to the Welsh, who showed more aggression and more hunger for the ball, and showed some wonderful running rugby. The Wallabies just didn't fire for the whole 80 minutes, and looked a bit buggered, to be honest.
However, the biggest individual congratulations must go to Alan Lewis, the overall winner, who obviously has a big future as an international forwards coach should he wish to pursue that career.
Last edited by tragic; 30-11-08 at 11:57.
Success is not final, failure is not fatal:
it is the courage to continue that counts.
- Winston Churchill
Well said 'Tragic' didn't he shine!! Did someone previously say he's an ex cricketer? at least they have the 3rd umpire for most of their decisions.
4 from 5 maybe 'Mudskipper' but more than an element of luck and very unconvincing in my humble opinion...roll on the S14 now.
I will be humble in victory.
Cleaned up at the V bookies too. welshrugbyfan bet 96000 7/2 (4.5) win 336000
pretty much (following on from qld suppoter), if the French kicker was on song last week it would have been a differant story last week. I think alot of Wobbaly supporters would like to see a win through the side doing the right things instead of arsy things such as an opposition player having an off day with the boot. We escaped against Italy, didn't see very much of England game.
Whilst i was happy with the wins there is still alot of improvement to made.
A good effort from the Welsh though, should see some of them get a call up to the national side the next time England play
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Crazy mixed up Mungo.
I mentioned it here after the France match but there have been too many line breaches against the Wallabies up the middle of the park. The same last night. They seem equally susceptible to the inside pass or the runner coming off the shoulder and seem unable to produce those plays themselves. They allow far too many offloads in traffic and again need to work on producing some when they have possession. They are missing Muggo's tight defensive structures. Maybe they are still learning Aussie Bob's systems. A step backwards for the scrum, even if Mr Lewis was making his guesses based on past misdemeanors.
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