Clinical Wales power through and leave woeful Wallabies on the brink
By Nick Powell, Online Editor
Wales…………………………………….40
Tries: Davies 3, Tompkins 48
Conversions: Biggar 4, Anscombe 49
Penalties: Anscombe 21, 29, 39, 43, 52, 60
Drop-goal: Anscombe 70
Australia…………………………………6
Penalties: Donaldson 9, 14
Wales produced a clinical attacking showing and rock-solid defensive display as they thumped Australia to wrap up their spot in the World Cup quarter-finals and leave the Wallabies on the verge of an early exit.
Warren Gatland‘s side made the perfect start as skipper Jac Morgan charged through the Wallabies defence and fed Gareth Davies for an early try near the posts.
Australia responded well with two Ben Donaldson penalties, but as they inched back into the game Wales hit back with three of their own before the break from Gareth Anscombe, who replaced the injured Dan Biggar on 12 minutes.
Nick Tompkins dotted down terrifically from a kick through by Anscombe in between two more penalties from the New-Zealand born fly-half, and he would add one more penalty and a drop-goal before captain Morgan completed what had become a rout by the end.
Gatland said: “It was a pretty good performance but I thought our line speed could improve.
“Once we got a bit of confidence and a bit of momentum we were on top. We’ve worked so hard and you get what you deserve and we deserved to win today.
“We know how much defence has dominated for us in the past and not conceding a try was superb. The message at the end was to go for a bonus point but we can’t be too greedy.”
It was Australia who kicked off the titanic clash, but Wales immediately won a penalty and went on the attack with a reward straight out of the blocks.
A clever move in midfield following a lineout saw Nick Tompkins feed Morgan on an inside line, who broke from halfway to the edge of the 22 before his superb offload provided Davies with an opportunity to get the first score that he finished brilliantly.
Australia controlled the next ten minutes of the contest, but superb Welsh resistance meant they had to settle for two penalties off the tee rather than an equalising try.
Good ball retention and control at the scrum looked to have got the Wallabies back in the contest, but when Donaldson offloaded to his new opposite number Anscombe Wales could finally relieve the pressure and eventually set up a chance for the replacement fly-half to extend the lead.
Anscombe missed his first kick, but made no mistake with a second attempt a few minutes later and after Wales countered from a poor attacking lineout by Australia, he knocked over another to return the lead to seven.
With Wales growing increasingly comfortable in defence, dominating the tactical contest and beginning to swing the battle at the scrum, Australia were getting flustered defensively, and a sloppy off-feet penalty from Rob Valentini gave Anscombe the chance to extend the lead to ten with the clock ticking down for the end of the first period.
And he duly did, though it could’ve been even better for Wales as Louis Rees-Zammit was held up over the line in the last act of the opening half.
Australia needed to start the second-half in the same vein Wales had the first, but instead they emerged slowly and handed possession straight back to their opposition before conceding a scrum penalty, which was again slotted by Anscombe.
Wales regained field position with another penalty at the scrum, and Anscombe’s perfectly-weighted kick was seized upon by Tompkins who shrugged off Samu Kerevi to provide an excellent, and perhaps match-winning finish to grow the gap to three scores.
Anscombe slotted the conversion and two further penalties shortly after, and with Wales now in complete control of the scrum and managing the game with confidence and calmness, Australia were finding it impossible to even find a toehold.
When the Wallabies finally managed to get their hands on the ball more in the final quarter, half chances evaporated through handling errors, the ball being held up by the fierce Welsh defence, and poor tactical kicking.
Soon Wales got their next opportunity, gifted to them after a dismal Samu Kerevi knock-on only a few metres from his own line, and though Australia defended with bravery for 13 phases Anscombe slotted a superb drop-goal to deliver what looked to be the final blow.
If Kerevi’s knock-on didn’t sum up their night, Carter Gordon’s kick into the dead-ball area off a late penalty did, and Morgan drove over from the back of a driving maul to get a deserved score for himself, and secure Wales their biggest-ever winning margin against the Wallabies.
Wales: L Williams; Rees-Zammit, North, Tompkins, Adams; Biggar, G Davies; G Thomas, Elias, Francis, Rowlands, Beard, Wainwright, Morgan (capt), Faletau.
Replacements: Dee, Domachowski, H Thomas, D Jenkins, Basham, T Williams, Anscombe, Dyer.
Australia: Kellaway; Nawaqanitawase, Petaia, Kerevi, Koroibete; Donaldson, McDermott; Bell, Porecki (capt), Slipper, Frost, Arnold, Leota, T Hooper, Valetini.
Replacements: Faessler, Schoupp, Fa’amausili, Philip, McReight, White, Gordon, Vunivalu.
