9 6
DO not adjust your screen – Wales’ decade-long hoodoo against Australia IS over. After 13 straight defeats since 2008, the nation has been put out of its misery. Finally, the heroes are wearing red shirts.
In the end, it was replacement Dan Biggar who took centre stage, nervelessly slotting a 76th minute penalty with Leigh Halfpenny off the field after being knocked to the ground in a challenge by Aussie centre Samu Kerevi many home fans thought was illegal.
Halfpenny had earlier sent over two penalties, but had an inexplicably off day with his boot, missing two easy efforts at goal in the first half.
Ultimately, the Wallabies could only manage penalties from Bernard Foley and his replacement Matt Toomua. And, for once, there was no late turnaround.
The final whistle was greeted with an almighty roar by an elated home crowd. No wonder, this had been a long time coming.
It will be savoured. And so it should be.
The next time these two teams meet will be at the 2019 World Cup in Japan.
One thing is certain now - there will be no Welsh inferiority complex. SUCH AN ARM-WRESTLE It’s a bit of a cliche to use the phrase ‘defences were on top’ but, how can you put this, defences WERE on top. It made for a low-scoring battle that was so unlike what we have come to expect from this fixture.
Just before the half-hour mark Wales had made 40 tackles to Australia’s 42 and both sides had missed just two each. The score at the time – 3-0 to Wales – merely underlined how scarce opportunities had been.
Players in both red and gold jerseys put their bodies on the line but also kept cool heads in what were supremely-organised rearguard actions.
Both sides made a number of halfbreaks, but the swarming desperation to snuff out potential opportunities was there for all to see.
It made this a compelling contest, even if it was not a free-scoring one. WALLABY WASTEFULNESS In a match so close, turning down chances to kick easy penalties looked braver than usual.
Australia did so twice in the third quarter –in the 51st and 54th minutes to be precise.
Firstly. Wales were pinged for collapsing a maul and then Liam Williams, on as a replacement, was done for infringing in a tackle.
Both times Aussie No.10 Foley planted kicks to touch instead of going for the posts. Both times his side got nothing.
They knocked on at a maul Wales defended brilliantly and then made a pig’s ear of a lineout when their throw went too deep, clearing the set-piece and allowing Wales to snaffle possession and launch a counter-attack.
It was a significant momentum shift in the context of the game. HALFPENNY’S RADAR GOES ON THE BLINK Leigh Halfpenny began the match as statistically the best goal-kicker in the world with a success rate of 87%. That would have surprised very few.
What was a surprise – make that a complete shock – was that he not only missed two out of three penalty shots at goal in the first-half, but that both were the kind of opportunities you’d expect parks players to slot.
He was wide in the 10th minute from an easy close-range position and then, almost incredibly he put the ball wide from in front of the posts on the stroke of half-time.
Sure, you normally need tries to beat Australia, but in an opening 40 minutes that was such a tight affair, the six points that went begging mattered enormously at the time, even if it all turned out OK in the end.
It’s tough enough beating these southern hemisphere giants, but when your usually rock-solid points accumulator is off colour, you have a mountain to climb – or at least you should expect one.
It said a lot that when Halfpenny lined up his 68th minute penalty in front of the posts there were Welsh fans closing their eyes and crossing their fingers. ANSCOMBE’S SWEET BOOT Much was made of the inclusion of Gareth Anscombe at fly-half instead of the available-again Biggar.
But the Kiwi import justified his selection; his kicking from hand was simply sumptuous at times.
It mattered. And it mattered because he bought his side extra yards when aiming for touch off penalties and kept Wales in the match territorially. That was even the case from tight angle which didn’t help him to eat up yardage.
He wasn’t flawless. In the 10th minute if he had been more accurate with a chip over the Australian defence that bounced into touch then wing Josh Adams would have had a free run-in for a try.
Yet Anscombe has class in his boot, and in a modern game where the boot is so important it is not a commodity to undervalue.
By contrast, Australia’s kicking was largely ineffective. Even a footballer as natural as Kurtley Beale produced far too much that was aimless. LINEOUT WOBBLES Australian problems at the lineout were well-documented before the match, and they had their problems again. Wales pinched ball on a Wallaby throw-in as early as the ninth minute.
But the infectious.
Wales lost successive lineouts in the 18th and 19th minutes on their errors appeared to be