Decade-long wait finally over as Wales

Tomos Williams and Dan Biggar celebrate on the final whistle WALES AUSTRALIA 9 6

WALES finally ended their 10-year wait for a win over Australia with an ugly 9-6 win at the Principality Stadium.

There were precious few incidents to set pulses racing during a dull affair in the Welsh capital, but the result will nevertheless be greeted with jubilation by Welsh fans.

Then again, they might well have believed it was not going to be their day after seeing Leigh Halfpenny miss two reasonably straightfor- ward first-half penalties.

And Halfpenny found himself at the centre of what was arguably the game’s biggest talking point in the closing stages of the game, after finding himself on the end of a nasty collision with Australia’s Samu Kerevi.

The Fijian-born centre looked to charge down a Halfpenny kick on 74 minutes, before crashing his shoulder into the face of Halfpenny, who had to be replaced after needing treatment.

New Zealand referee Ben O’Keefe declared that the incident wasn’t the result of foul play, although replays of the incident left the home crowd incensed.

Sam Warburton was similarly annoyed at the decision, stating: “I was angry because I thought if we wanted to make it clearer, anything shoulder to the head should be a penalty offence or more.

“If you’re charging down someone as player you go for the leg, you don’t go charging with your shoulder towards their head.”

Wales head coach Warren Gatland told BBC Sport after the game: “To me he’s gone for the charge down and he’s just stayed in that position. The referee says he’s committed, but he could’ve moved his shoulder to another position and it could have had less of an impact on Leigh.

“I thought it warranted a penalty or a yellow card, but I’m not the referee so you’ve just got to accept that.”

The two-time British and Irish Lion was forced to leave the field, replaced by Dan Biggar, who went on to nail the match-winning kick.