Wales 9 – 6 Australia
For the first time since 2008, following a series of 14 consecutive losses, Wales beat Australia in Cardiff nine points to six. That scoreline is hardly one to suggest an exciting game, or it may suggest the weather was dire. The truth is the roof of the stadium was closed and believe it or not the game was exciting. The game was so close in score that every run, every pass, every ruck and every kick meant so much more. It would only take one single mistake to give away the penalty that would see Wales lose to a narrow margin to Australia…again. In the end it was the men in gold that gave away the penalty for Dan Biggar to convert at 76 minutes.
The game was one of strong defences overcoming the attack of the other. Open-side flankers of both sides, Justin Tipuric and Michael Hooper were outstanding over the ball, slowing down quick ball and winning turnovers on numerous occasions. By half time both sides had made 40 tackles and missed just two, what scarce opportunities, attackers did find were quickly snuffed out by desperate defences rallying to shut down breaks.
It was also a bit of a bizarre game, Leigh Halfpenny missed two penalty kicks that on any other day you would bet he would slot. Hooper also made a couple of bizarre decisions that could have actually cost his team the game. Twice in the second half, Australia opted to kick for the corner rather than take the shots at goal. Twice, the line-out was a mess and the Welsh defence managed to clear their lines. In a game of such narrow margins such as this, I don’t really understand what Hooper was thinking. This is the end of a long season for the southern hemisphere team against strong opposition, it doesn’t seem the time to try and score tries for fun with a game on the line. They took the gamble and came away with nothing, but the odds of coming away with six points were far friendlier.
Wales now go on to face Tonga having won their last seven games. They had a successful tour to Argentina and are in the midst of their best Autumn series too. They have already overcome two long streaks. Warren Gatland will hopefully have learned from previous tours to not make too many changes. Wales have made such a mistake before and suffered for it such as in 2010 with the 16-16 draw against Fiji. Wales would do well to field a strong team and hopefully take it as an opportunity to be clinical and score some good tries.
CodexCaster's Contribution 