Wallaby woe
Just why can’t Wales beat Australia?
Wales 16 Australia 25, 2010 Adam Jones, prop
As a prop, I always best remember the games we bossed in the scrum, and this was one of those when at the final whistle you raised your head after going forwards all match, looked at the scoreboard and thought: “How did we lose that?”
We were so dominant, I think we won six or seven penalties. But the Aussies are so clinical and Kurtley Beale scored against us. It always seems to be him. Although Richie Rees went over to make it exciting at the end, they had enough.
It’s funny because in the Noughties, Australia were the one southern-hemisphere giant we could beat. I was on two winning teams against them and one that drew. When we beat them in Warren Gatland’s first year in 2008, we all thought that was an important milestone and if you’d told me we wouldn’t beat them once in the next 10 years and 13 games I would not have believed you.
There were so many close ones. The most frustrating was that 2012 tour in their backyard, when we lost the last two Tests by two points and then a point. People say the flight home must have been like a library. Was it heck! We were in business class in Emirates and it had a bar. The trick was to drink all the way from Australia to Dubai and then sleep it off the next leg. And look miserable when you land.
Australia 25 Wales 23, 2012 Ashley Beck, centre
I had made my international debut as a replacement the week before, but that match in Melbourne was my first start for Wales. I’d always dreamt of my first time being in Cardiff with all my family in the stand, but this was not a bad alternative. And after being narrowly beaten in the first Test [27-19], we fancied our chances.
George North scored an early try and we were leading with less than a minute to go and had the ball in hand, but we kicked it away and gave the Aussies their chance to drive upfield from their 22. The clock was deep in the red when they got the penalty. Mike Harris, the replacement, kicked it over from a tight angle from 40 metres.
Of course it was gutting, and I remember the silence in the dressing room afterwards. We still had the last Test to get our first win down there in more than 40 years, but in Sydney it was just as frustrating. This time we lost by a
point, 20-19, again due to a late Australia penalty when we had been leading. Yeah, we had played well, but it was tough to take because we could and probably should have won that series. Instead, we were the architects of our downfall.
Wales 12 Australia 14, 2012 Matthew Rees, hooker
There was more on this than just making up for those close defeats Down Under in the summer. We knew that if we won we would be seeded for the 2015 World Cup, otherwise we would have a tough group. It was the usual thing. It was the last play of the game, Australia had a scrum on their five-metre line and then they go the length of the pitch, with that man Beale going over in the corner. That shouldn’t happen. Poor defence cost us.
We were devastated and looked at each other and said: “Not again.” We’d put so much into it. You get sick of hearing that you’d played well, but didn’t get over the line.
I was speaking to Xavier Rush the other week and he was saying that southern-hemisphere teams back themselves in that last 15 minutes. Yeah, Wales might be ahead, but they know they have the mental edge in that last stretch. It is not a physical edge any more, just mental errors from us.
It had big ramifications for England. It meant we were in their pool along with Australia and we beat them and they didn’t make it out of the pool at their own World Cup.
Wales 21 Australia 29, 2017 Josh Adams, Wales wing now, but a fan in 2017
I was actually at the stadium for this game last year as a fan. I would go to watch whenever there was the chance and Worcester didn’t have a game that weekend. So it is all a bit surreal really – in 12 months I have gone from watching it as a spectator to getting the opportunity to be on that pitch.
That defeat last year was like many others, I suppose. Steff Evans scored a good try and we had our chances, but Australia were stronger in the end. It did feel familiar as it has been so very close so very often. It is small margins, maybe not concentrating for the full 80, maybe a slip in concentration in the last five minutes, leading to a penalty they kick to the corner or whatever the situation may be.
There is an emphasis on a big 80-minute performance [today] and the feeling around the place is good. We have had six wins on the bounce and a hit-out in the autumn already. Most of my family are coming: mum, dad, brother, girlfriend, auntie, uncle, grandmother, all sorts – I can keep going, it’s the full Adams clan.
Of course I’m looking forward to it. Even when I was driving to the game last year as a spectator I felt the buzz because the Principality is a special place.
I hope it’s exciting for everyone – it usually is.