Wainwright stands out as Wales fail to impress
Political swings being all the rage, the sixth-best team in the Six Nations duly fell victim to one of their own making, a whopper even by Tory standards.
Finishing nine behind Australia in Sydney last night on their first encounter since thrashing them 40-6 at the World Cup last autumn adds up to a swing of 43 points. It took some doing given that the Wallabies had taken some fearful wallopings in the course of matching their opponents by losing seven Tests of their own last season.
Wales have now lost eight on the trot with no immediate sign beyond blind patriotism to suggest they are going to start winning any day soon. Perish the thought but at this rate it may be just a matter of time before they have lost one for every Conservative MP unseated from his or her Welsh constituency, all 12 of them.
Coming up short anywhere and everywhere in Australia is nothing new for Wales. While far better teams than this one have been found wanting on every visit since they edged the first, at a muddy Sydney Cricket Ground 55 years ago, this one was different.
In a country dominated by Aussie Rules and Rugby League, Union can never have been in a more parlous state, what with the wreckage of the World Cup and the implosion of the Melbourne Rebels. Last night’s attendance reflected public disenchantment, barely 35,000 turning up in a stadium where they used to find room for more than 100,000.
Wales went into the series comforted by the knowledge of testing themselves against opponents in a similar predicament, if not worse. Each had had been forced to rummage through the rubble of failed campaigns, one in the World Cup, the other in the Six Nations.
Despite Warren Gatland having picked 50 players since the losing run began against Argentina last September, his opposite number, Joe Schmidt, picked seven times as many uncapped players as Wales’ one, Josh Hathaway.
That Schmidt barely had time for four training sessions made this surely the most under prepared Australia 23 if not of all-time then certainly of the professional era. There can be no dodging the conclusion to be drawn from the match, that Wales were simply not good enough to take advantage.
Nobody could possibly have done more to stop the rot than one of only three survivors from their starting team in Lyon, Aaron Wainwright, magnificent as usual on the occasion of his 50th appearance. He and Wales will point to their disallowed try in the 56th minute which would have tied the match at 18-apiece with a conversion to come.
Leading from the front: Aaron Wainwright takes the game to Australia
PICTURE: Alamy
The TMO verdict ruling the maul illegal because of obstruction denied James Botham a game-changer in the family’s finest tradition, a try within seconds of taking his place in the back row.
Wales had already generated a lineout maul of such potency as to leave the Wallabies no option but to pull it down and concede a penalty try. Yet when Dewi Lake had the chance to engineer a repeat minutes after the referee had reversed his decision, the skipper opted to go for goal instead.
Naturally enough, Gatland bemoaned Botham’s no-try as an example of a team ‘not getting any 50-50 calls’. Still none the wiser as to his best XV, he will surely be more concerned about the recurring Welsh failure to create tries behind the scrum.
Of the 14 tries scored by Wales over the course of their eight lost matches, only two have come from three-quarters, Joe Roberts and Rio Dyer in the same match, France in Cardiff last March. Therein lies the most damning statistic of all.
In his search for a Phoenix from the ashes, Gatland picked a fly-half who last started there for his club, Cardiff, three years ago. Ben Thomas, composed throughout, nailed his goals, unlike his opposite numbers, Noah Lolesio on the other side of the field and Marcus Smith, on the other side of the Tasman.
Whether Lolesio had been dazzled by the glare of his fluorescent yellow boots wasn’t clear but in missing the proverbial sitter of a penalty he allowed Wales to stay within striking distance until Tom Wright floored them with a solo try of pure Wallaby gold.
Ironically, Sam Costelow’s late introduction raised fleeting hopes that he would inspire a sorely needed riposte to Wright’s searing break. Only an unkind bounce prevented Hathaway making some atonement for the hopeful punt which gave Wright the platform for his pyrotechnics.
Gatland now has major decisions to make, not just at fly half but in both centre positions. Mason Grady finished up on the wing, Owen Watkin went the distance but won’t look forward to Monday’s dissection of his unwitting part in leaving the door open for Wright to scorch through without a hand being laid on him by way of hindrance.
The try invited a new cap with a revered name to come off the bench and condemn Wales to that beastly sinking feeling with his first Test goal. Tom Lynagh looked at home on the big stage just as his big brother Louis had done for Italy during the Six Nations.
His conversion did more than revive the family tradition set by his father, Michael way back in the Eighties. His very presence would have evoked grim memories for those veterans in the Red Dragon battalions who remember Lynagh, senior, in days of Wallaby yore.
They would recall what he did to Wales in successive mis-matches in 1991: 23 points at Brisbane (63-6) and 18 more at Cardiff in the World Cup (38-6). In such hard times, Wales are left to do more rummaging for ‘the positives’ which they keep claiming they have found, even after conceding 41 points to the Springboks.
Skipper Lake at least confronted the reality, even if it sounded like stating the obvious: “We have to learn to win games.’’ They will try again in Melbourne next Saturday, driven in their desperation to be back in the swing of things…
