Wales pull off Oz scalp
Wales have pulled off a huge scalp by claiming a 21-18 victory over Australia at the Millennium Stadium on Saturday.
By Elliot Ball
Last Updated: 29/11/08 5:55pm
Wales pulled off a big scalp by claiming a 21-18 victory over Australia at the Millennium Stadium on Saturday.
Tries from Shane Williams and Lee Byrne, plus an 11 point haul from fly-half Stephen Jones, were just enough to seal Wales' third win against a Tri-Nations giant in 21 years.
Warren Gatland's first win as Wales coach against a southern hemisphere side hung in the balance however, after Digby Ioane's try ensured a barnstorming climax.
Australia, who lost influential skipper Stirling Mortlock after two minutes following a collision with Jamie Roberts, also scored through Brumbies lock Mark Chisholm, with Matt Giteau knocking over eight points to pile on the pressure.
But Wales clung on and rounded their series off on a major high by becoming the first northern hemisphere side to defeat one of the Tri-nation superpowers this Autumn.
Fittingly, it was the newly-crowned IRB world player of the year Shane Williams who kick-started proceedings, the diminutive winger crossing for a scintillating try after four minutes, the build-up for which had echoes of the form that took Wales to last season's Grand Slam title.
Williams made a break in midfield, and when tackled made a deft offload to man-of-the-match Byrne who passed to Roberts, the centre hauled down by Drew Mitchell five metres from the line.
Gareth Cooper saw the space out wide from the resulting ruck and threw out a huge pass that Byrne picked up from his ankles and quickly shipped on to Williams for his 44th career try and fourth against the Wallabies.
The Australians hit back in the 14th minute, Chisholm pouncing on a misdirected Alun-Wyn Jones tap-down from a line-out, stepping inside Cooper and sprinting 60 metres unchallenged to the line. Giteau kicked the easy conversion.
Giteau then kicked a 25th minute drop-goal after the Australians had camped out in the Welsh half for a good few minutes without having a decent sight of the whitewash.
Restart
From the restart, a spilled up-and-under from Byrne saw Ryan Cross motor away and into the Welsh 22, only to be hauled down by the covering Shane Williams and Tom Shanklin.
Number eight Andy Powell then led the counter-attack back at the Wallabies, and when hooker Stephen Moore handled in a ruck, referee Alan Lewis had no hesitation in showing the Queenslander a yellow card while Stephen Jones kicked the penalty.
The Welsh handling became increasingly slick, with offloads aplenty, and Byrne crashed over for the team's second try after the ubiquitous Williams played him through a gap. Jones hit the conversion to hand Wales a 15-10 lead.
Australia were suddenly on the rack, Powell repeatedly testing their midfield defence, Martyn Williams spilling an offload from Cooper with the line at his mercy, and the pack being shunted off their own ball - half-time could not come fast enough.
Jones scuffed two easy penalties at the start of the second-half as Giteau pulled back three points for the visitors and began to marshal his troops well in midfield.
But the home side battened down the defensive hatches, repelling wave after wave of Australian attack, and Jones made amends for his earlier misses with a smartly-taken 67th minute drop-goal.
The Welsh pack then withstood a three-minute barrage on their own line, the Wallabies finally infringing to relieve the pressure.
Stephen Jones hit a second penalty in the 78th minute while Australian winger Ioane crossed for a late consolation try, Giteau missing the hastily-taken conversion.
