Aussies made to fight all the way
Australia……………………… 36pts
Tries: Daugunu 7, 67; Gordon 25, Alaalatoa 54
Conversions: Lolesio 8, 26
Penalties: Lolesio 15, 31, 39; Donaldson 77
Wales…………………………… 28pts
Tries: Lake 28, 36, Williams 47, Dyer 70
Conversions: Thomas 30, 37, 49; Costelow 71
Wales captain Dewi Lake scored two tries from lineout drives but it wasn’t enough to prevent his side crashing to their ninth consecutive defeat and give Australia their first win at a rainy Melbourne since 2017.
Trailing 17-0 after only 24 minutes, Wales showed terrific heart to make the Wallabies fight to the end and probably deserved to finish in front, but that poor start and a few major errors proved crucial.
Lake said: “We gave ourselves a mountain to climb and losing is always a bitter blow to swallow. Our driving lineout is a massive weapon for us but our little inaccuracies continue to cost us.”
Little inaccuracies would be an understatement as some of the errors were of seismic proportions. Liam Williams conceded a soft penalty before another morale-shatterer from him gave Australia their crucial fourth try.
A handling mistake from Cam Winnett gifted Australia their second and too often restarts were a problem with both Winnett and James Botham conceding penalties to allow the scoreboard to tick over against them.
Furthermore, with the game in the balance, Lake was replaced by young Evan Lloyd, with the result that Wales lost the next two lineouts.
Despite these errors, it was still an improvement from Wales. Lake led from the front and there were major contributions from Botham and Taine Plumtree, to ensure that the team weren’t wholly incapacitated by the absence of their injured talisman, Aaron Wainwright.
Despite miserable conditions, there was still more movement from the Welsh backs with both wings getting on the score sheet although the centre partnership of Owen Watkin and Mason Grady still failed to convince.
Wales began brightly but they were soon stunned by a brilliant breakaway try to give the Wallabies an early lead. Australia were under real pressure in the own 22 with some scrambled passing creating havoc but a piece of magic from Andrew Kellaway brought the game to life in spectacular fashion.
The wing saw space in front and chipped ahead to win an aerial battle with Winnett to feed Fraser McReight, who ran 40 metres before a well-timed pass provided Filipo Daugunu with an easy run-in.
From the restart, Ellis Bevan knocked on for Australia to regain possession and the hosts went through 22 phases before they were awarded a penalty which Noah Lolesio knocked over.
Wales then had their first chance for points but Ben Thomas’ penalty went badly astray. However they overcame this setback to exert a decent period of pressure with Botham dragged into touch only metres short of the line.
Another error from Winnett gifted the Wallabies their second try. The young Welsh full-back failed to collect an up and under from Jake Gordon and the scrum-half was on hand to take advantage by claiming the loose ball before evading tackles from Botham and Lake to score. A scoreline of 17-0 was rough justice on Wales as they had competed fiercely in the first half-hour and hence a try from Lake from an unstoppable lineout drive was no more than they deserved.
Winnett collected the restart and was penalised for not releasing so Lolesio extended his side’s lead but Wales received a boost when Lukhan Salakaia-Loto was sin-binned for a high tackle on Griffin which forced the young tighthead off the field. The visitors capitalised immediately with Lake again crashing over from a potent driving maul but restarts were proving a problem for Wales. Botham collected it but was penalised for mot releasing so a third penalty from Lolesio put Australia ahead 23-14 at half-time.
Griffin was able to resume after the interval whilst Salakaia-Loto was soon back in the action and in time to see Williams score his first try for Wales in his 12 appearances against the Wallabies.
Unfortunately Williams then blotted his copybook by needlessly conceding a penalty for a clear-out on Charlie Clare, which Australia kicked to the corner. From there, replacement Allan Alaalatoa forced his way over from close-range for his first try for his country on his 69th appearance.
Wales needed some impetus so changed their half-backs with Sam Costelow and Kieran Hardy introduced whilst their opponents brought on former Exeter scrum-half Nic White for the final quarter.
The game was in the balance but a catastrophic error from Williams gave Australia the upper hand. The Welsh veteran tried to keep a Lolesio penalty touch-finder in play but only succeeding in flapping the ball into the path of Daugunu, who gratefully ran 30 metres to score.
Wales wouldn’t lie down and when a White kick was charged down, Rio Dyer powered past three defenders for an excellent individual try – but a late penalty from Ben Donaldson sealed victory.
The Welsh players looked shattered at the whistle but it is still not the end of the season for them as they face Queensland Reds on Friday. They have already had to play an additional fixture against South Africa in a money-making exercise and now in a decision that beggars belief they have to traipse up to Brisbane.
For what purpose one may ask, it can only be to reward the efforts of youngsters Regan Grace, Jacob Beetham and Eddie James, all of whom failed to get any game time on the trip. If the latter two do impress Gatland sufficiently, it will surely result in quandaries for head coaches at the Welsh Regions.
Dwayne Peel at Scarlets will have to consider how to manage three international centres – James, Joe Roberts and Johnny Williams – and decide whether Ioan Lloyd deserves a crack in one position as the Welsh No.10 shirt is still very much up for grabs.
Having a worse problem is Cardiff’s Matt Sherratt. Fly-half Callum Sheedy has returned from Bristol in a bid to regain his Wales shirt so where does Gatland’s present protégé, Ben Thomas, fit in? Sherratt has also to decide where to pick Grady, who played wing for most of last season, and satisfy both Win-nett and Beetham who are rivals for the 15 shirt.
