Wales soooo near and yet sooo far again!

By Helen ‘Helzbach’ Davies

Despite a good win against Argentina and a win against Tonga last week, the Autumn Series would be classed as a disaster without a rare ‘W’ against Australia. The odds seemed to be in Wales’ favour following a record 10 Welsh players part of the British Lions who were successful in their bid for a historic series win against the Wallabies during the summer.

However, that was then, and this is now and with an increasing injury list, including the influential Jonathan Davies, it is possible that this Australian mountain may just be too high for the Welsh boys to climb.

Expectation was high in the packed Millennium Stadium as Ospreys’ Dan Biggar kicked off. Australia looked promising from the start; however a turn over from Wales gifted the home team a dream start which saw George North demonstrating his speed on the wing before he gathered his own kick to score the first try of the match with just over a minute on the clock.

Leigh Halfpenny made no mistake with his touch line conversion to give the Welsh an early 7 point to 0 lead.

Despite constant pressure from the visitors, a great kick from Scrum Half Mike Phillips offered Wales a good field position. Halfpenny continued with his kicking accuracy as he successfully landed his first penalty of the game, giving the home team a 10 point to 0 advantage.

Unfortunately Australia were offered an easy 3 points just seconds later with Christopher Leali’lifano successful with his penalty right in front of the posts to narrow the gap to 10 points to 3.

A lucky bounce saw Wales back in the Australian half, despite a shocking penalty from Biggar who was unable to find the touch line and yet again Halfpenny was offered a kick within his range. 3 successful kicks out of 3 opened up the 10 point gap once again, 13 – 3, and ensured that despite the immense attacking pressure, the Welsh score board continued to tick over.

Australia finally translated their pressure into points with a well worked try, demonstrating text book handling, including a fantastic off load from Quade Cooper, superbly finished off by Christopher Leali’lifanowho added the conversion of his try to narrow the gap to just 3 points – 13-10.

A great take from Leigh Halfpenny had the crowd on their feet as he powered his way into the Australian half and he was rewarded with his efforts with the chance of another penalty. Unfortunately, the post got in the way and it was a rare miss for the Welsh Full Back.

Dan Biggar took over the kicking duties for the next penalty and managed to just squeeze the ball through the posts to give the home side a bit of breathing space – 16 points to 10.

The dominance of the Wallabies was obvious as they worked through the phases to inch ever closer to the white wash. It was more luck than Welsh defending that cleared the Welsh line. A dropped pass from Will Genia, saved a definite try which would have given Aussies the lead.

Danger man Israel Folau demonstrated his brilliance to cross the try line, fortunately held up by Scarlets’ Scott Williams. Unfortunately, just when Wales really needed 15 men on the pitch, Dan Biggar found himself in the sin bin. Immense tackles from George North (not quite his Folau ruck sack) and Richard Hibbard couldn’t make up the man advantage and Folau finally managed to cross the white wash. Leali’lifano added the conversion and despite such a promising start to a hugely physical, entertaining and fast-paced half, Australia found themselves leading 17 points to 16 at the interval. Amazingly, there was just one thing missing from the first half that had just about everything…..a scrum!!

The Wallabies increased their lead right at the start of the second half with Christopher Leali’lifano adding to his tally of points with another penalty to give the score line of 16 points to 20.

The first scrum finally happened after 45 minutes of play following a break from Cooper. Drift defence from both Alex Cuthbert and Scott Williams denied another Australian score as Nick Cummins dropped the ball. Typically, the scrum was a scrappy affair but it did offer Mike Phillips the chance to clear the line.

It was the TMO that was apparently left to decide the outcome of the next Australian try with Joe Tomane crossing the whitewash following what appeared to be a forward pass. However, referee Wayne Barnes decided he was going to award the try after watching the action on the big screen. Leali’lifano added the conversion and suddenly Australia were reaping the benefits from their domination of the second half to open up an 11 point advantage –16 points to 27.

Constantly playing behind the gain line seemed to be costing Wales hugely and within minutes it was another Leali’lifano penalty, 16 points to 30 and Wales were unable to leave their own 22.

Whereas Australia had been contained in the first half by a combination of the Welsh defence and little bit of Welsh luck, the second half was fast turning into a possible cricket score to win the rugby ‘ashes’!

It took a full 15 minutes for Wales to finally enter the Australian 22 and suddenly the roar of the Millennium Stadium crowd was urging replacement Liam Williams as he made a scintillating break, emulating George North’s earlier run on the wing. Unfortunately, North was fortunate that his possible wrong decision did result in a try being scored whereas Sanjay only succeeded in giving away a penalty.

Superb angles of rugby saw a determined George North charge forward towards the try line and nothing was going to stop him crossing under the posts. Biggar added the easy conversion and Wales were finally back in the game – 23 points to 30.

With an exciting last quarter in prospect, Coach, Warren Gatland rang in the changes, hoping fresh legs (and an extra helping of Scarlets!) would re-ignite the fire in the Welsh Dragons.

Rhys Priestland added another penalty to further bridge the gap – 26 points to 30 to ensure an exciting final 10 minutes of the game.

Despite the change of Hooker with Scarlets Ken Owens replacing Richard Hibbard, the lineout still struggled however the usually mercurial Quade Cooper was unable to take advantage of the field position and possession with his awful attempt at a Drop Goal which would have left Wales requiring a converted try to draw the game.

Typically, a Wales v Australia game ended complicatedly with the intervention of the TMO resulting in Quade Cooper’s game coming to a controversial premature end. Strangely, George North did not ‘play the whistle’ and despite crossing unopposed for the try, referee Barnes chose not to play advantage that would have seen North score his hat trick.

The subsequent penalty and man advantage promised an exciting ending to the game as Wales attempted a 12 man line out to score a winning try. Unfortunately the move ended up as an Australian scrum and then a penalty against the home team.

A penalty right on full time for Wales saw the Welsh team forced to run the ball from deep into their own half, however the touch line proved a couple of inches too close for Alex Cuthbert and once again the Wallabies came away victorious. However, questions have to be asked about the referee’s decisions that once again cost Wales the victory.