Man Behind the Match: Shane Williams and the 2008 Wales win over Australia
Routed in South Africa during the summer, they pushed the Springboks a good deal harder on home soil in November, but still no cigar. The following week they ran out of both gas and ideas against the All Blacks. It had been ten straight defeats against the Tri-Nations sides with only two victories recorded in the professional era, in 1999 against South Africa and six years later in a tangle with Australia.
It wasn’t for a lack of talent, and in particular on the left wing they had a jewel who would have been welcomed into any squad in the world – Shane Williams. The diminutive maestro had stunned the Boks with two exceptional tries in June and, as Wales prepared to meet the Wallabies in the finale of the autumn series, Williams was named World Player Of The Year. Could he celebrate by inspiring his country to a rare win over one of the giants of the game?
Mark Jones, the Scarlets wing who played in 26 Tests alongside Williams, says: “It was hugely frustrating against the All Blacks to let it slip after doing so well in the first half. I remember it being a nervous time before the Australia game, we were desperate to get a Southern Hemisphere scalp.”
Adam Jones, the prop who had made his 50th appearance in the red shirt earlier in the month against South Africa, agrees: “We were disappointed, we let ourselves down a bit.”
While Wales wrestled with self-doubt, Australia came into the match buoyed by victories against Italy, England and France on their tour; the Wallabies were going for a Grand Slam of their own and arrived in the knowledge that the 2005 victory was the only Welsh triumph against the Green and Gold in the previous 21 years of their battles.
The match started at a frenetic pace and within two minutes there was a mighty collision between two immoveable objects – Wallaby skipper Stirling Mortlock and opposing centre Jamie Roberts. The Welshman rose dazed after lengthy treatment but Mortlock came off worse, having to be helped off the field concussed. Roberts played on for another quarter of an hour before giving way to Andrew Bishop.
“Jamie was becoming a big player for us, so it was a blow but that was balanced by them losing Mortlock,” reflects Adam Jones. “To lose him gave us a boost as he was their captain and a key man for them.”
Mark concurs: “Yes, Mortlock was their go-to man at the time.”
Inevitably, after such a stoppage, the match restarted in a more muted atmosphere but this was soon dispelled as Williams lit up the Millennium Stadium with what was becoming a trademark display of dazzling footwork. He spotted a potential weak link in the Wallaby defensive line, prop Al Baxter, and jinked away from him before off-loading to the brave Roberts.
The 22-year-old was still trying to shake-off the effects of his coming-together with Mortlock and didn’t have the power to make the line but was able to smuggle the ball back for scrum-half Gareth Cooper, whose pass found Lee Byrne and the full-back swiftly linked to Williams to go over. It was his 44th Test try for Wales, extending his national record, and his fourth against Australia.
Wales could not have wished for a better start. “It is inspiring when Shane gets hold of the ball and it just shows how important it is to give it to him,” says Adam Jones. “It’s not good to rely on one person, but when he does his stuff you can feel the crowd lift. At that time he was a heavily marked man and took a lot of attention, but that created space for others.”
Gatland needed his men to steady themselves but then there was a calamity at a lineout … Alun Wyn Jones knocked back Matthew Rees’ throw but his attempted delivery failed to reach Cooper. The ball bounced unkindly for the scrum-half and landed in the giant mitts of Aussie lock Mark Chisholm. Surely he couldn’t go all the way from the halfway line? Like a galloping giraffe Chisholm set off and couldn’t be caught. Matt Giteau converted. It was a sucker punch.
“They always come back, the Wallabies. They are very good at it,” muses Adam Jones. “In any game of rugby it’s important to get the set-piece right, but against the Southern Hemisphere you’ve got to get the ball because they don’t give it back to you. They had a good line-out defence and put pressure on us.”
The problems at the line-out would persist and the game began to swing. The promise created by Williams seemed like a mirage as mistake after mistake handed the initiative to the tourists. Giteau slotted a drop goal to make it 10-5 and the match appeared to be following a familiar pattern when north meets south.
Shortly after the restart, centre Ryan Cross burst through after Wales failed to deal with a high ball. The convert from Rugby League looked all set to celebrate a fifth try of his burgeoning Test career until Williams and Tom Shanklin joined forces to haul him down.
“What many people didn’t realise about Shane was how good defensively he was,” adds Adam Jones. “He had trouble initially against big men running at him but he worked out a way of tackling and he was quick enough to get round, catch them and made so many cover tackles coming in from the side.
“He was a lion; very, very ‘shouty’, especially in defence and especially to the forwards! Before he came along no-one spoke in the back-line.
“He was small in stature but he could just latch on to people and hold them up,” adds Mark Jones. “He was no great front-on tackler but he played to his strengths. Not many exposed him, he always seemed to get his angles right and could rely on his pace.”
Just as his try had put a spring in the step of his team-mates, so that awesome defensive effort perked Wales up. Suddenly they regained ascendancy with a rookie back row making his mark. Gatland had spotted potential in Andy Powell as a game-breaker and the No.8 didn’t let the coach down, rampaging upfield and forcing Aussie hooker Stephen Moore to resort to handling in a ruck.
Referee Alan Lewis wafted the yellow card at Moore and the crowd believed again. Stephen Jones knocked over the penalty.
Adam Jones recalls the impact the raw Powell made: “It was only Andy’s third cap; he had made his debut against South Africa two weeks before when I had won my 50th. He was outstanding that autumn. It was partly because no-one knew him and when someone as big as him is so quick and has such a good hand-off it’s very hard to stop.”
Wales capitalised on the one-man advantage on the half hour. Powell produced more go-forward and then it was Williams, yet again, who was there with a vital intervention. The scuttling wing ran on a diagonal, attracting the attention of the Wallaby defence before releasing Lee Byrne, who had picked a delicious line. The full-back cruised through and touched down, Jones converted. Cardiff was a cacophony of sound, Wales were in the lead and Williams was the man the Aussies couldn’t handle.
“He would come into the middle and be around the rucks. It must have been difficult for props and second rows seeing him there, having to tackle him jinking this way and that,” admits Adam Jones.
Fellow wing Mark Jones was happy to play second fiddle to ‘Super Shane’: “We had a good understanding, but played different roles. He had a great work-rate and was comfortable to play at first receiver while I stayed out wide. We were very different players.
“Shane played a lot of rugby at scrum-half in his younger days and so was used to playing close to the ruck, it fitted his skills set. We complemented each other.”
With the massed choirs in the stands in celebratory mode, things could easily have got even better for the hosts as Cooper broke through and off-loaded to Martyn Williams, who was typically in support. However, the Blues flanker knocked on and the chance was lost. It was a pity for Wales, but they went in at the break 15-10 up.
Jones had an opportunity earlier in the second period to nudge it up to 18-10, but missed, and the expected Australian backlash arrived. Wales were on the back foot and the pressure told, as a succession of penalties were conceded at the breakdown. Giteau reduced the deficit to just two points with a penalty strike.
Jones could have cancelled out Giteau’s effort shortly afterwards but was again off target. Groans around the ground betrayed Welsh nervousness and this appeared to feed the tourists’ desire as wave after wave of attacks confronted the Dragons.
Wales were visibly tiring and the respite was rare. Jones managed to slot a drop-goal with 12 minutes to go, relief as the scoreboard ticked back to a five-point lead.
Still Australia came. Valiant defence and the odd Aussie error conspired to keep Wales in front. At one point the thin red line was under the posts for three minutes repelling phase after phase.
“We had to really be on our mettle,” recalls Adam Jones. “They target the tight five in the opposition so we had to put in so many tackles.” Jones, front row colleague Gethin Jenkins and lock Alun Wyn Jones each put in epic shifts.
Eventually the siege was lifted and from 30 metres out Stephen Jones finally slotted another penalty. The crowd roared its approval, at 21-13 with just two minutes on the clock surely that was it. Oh no it wasn’t.
The Wallaby tradition of fighting to the death was upheld as wing Digby Ioane dived over, Giteau failed with a rushed Sevens-style conversion attempt from his hands. Was there time left for the restart? Only just and Australia launched a last desperate attempt to grab victory from the jaws of defeat.
Bread Of Heaven turned into whistles and anxious shouts as the Wallabies slowly made progress towards halfway…could Wales raise themselves for one last defensive effort?
“I remember the ball spilling from a ruck and Stephen Jones booting it off the pitch,” says Adam Jones.
“It was relief to have done it at the end of the game. Warren Gatland had given us a hard time after the All Blacks defeat, particularly the forwards. As good as we played in the first half, we had let it slip and he told us to front up. He stressed to us that you have to play these teams to get better, and we had beaten them.”
Jubilation flowed through the Millennium Stadium and it was Williams who had ultimately made the difference. He had come into a struggling national side at the start of the century and had been a key figure in dual Grand Slams and now a pair of victories against the Wallabies.
He was truly the unofficial Prince of Wales, lauded as an equal of legends such as JPR, Gerald Davies and Gareth Edwards.
The continuing struggle to make a mark against the best in the world shows the enormity of the achievement that late November day, as Mark Jones admits: “It was a landmark victory for us and one of the best moments of my career.
“There are not too many of us who have beaten the big Southern Hemisphere sides …Wales haven’t beaten Australia since.”
TEAMS
Wales: Byrne, M Jones, Shanklin, J Roberts, S Williams, S Jones, Cooper, Jenkins, Rees, A Jones, Gough, A-W Jones, R Jones (capt), M Williams, Powell
Replacements: Hibbard, Yapp, Charteris, D Jones, M Roberts, Hook, Bishop
Australia:D Mitchell; P Hynes, R Cross, S Mortlock (capt), D Ioane; M Giteau, L Burgess; B Robinson, S Moore, A Baxter, M Chisholm, N Sharpe, H McMeniman, P Waugh, R Brown
Replacements:A Freier, M Dunning, D Mumm, G Smith, S Cordingley, Q Cooper, L Tuqiri
