Wonderful Wales defeat Wallabies

Eurosport - Wed, 03 Dec 15:54:00 2008

Fly-half Stephen Jones rounded off a fine year for Six Nations champions Wales by steering them to a thrilling 21-18 victory over Australia at the Millennium Stadium.

Wales joy, RUGBY - 0

Jones booted 11 points to add to first half tries from World Player of the Year Shane Williams and Lee Byrne as Wales became the only northern hemisphere team to beat a Tri-Nations side this year.

The Wallabies also went over twice through lock Mark Chisholm and wing Digby Ioane and fly-half Matt Giteau kicked eight points with a penalty, a brilliant drop goal and conversion.

Wales, who had won just once in Australia's previous seven visits, had lost narrowly to world champions South Africa and New Zealand in earlier tests in the November series.

Coach Warren Gatland said: "I'm really proud of our performance. We played a lot of really good rugby and thoroughly deserved to win.

"Hopefully we can mature over the next couple of seasons into a really good side."

Australia were chasing their first European clean sweep since 1996 following wins over England, France and Italy this month.

Disappointed Australia coach Robbie Deans said: "It's never enjoyable to come second in a test match. There was obviously not much in it."

In an explosive start, the hosts forced the visitors on the back foot when fullback Drew Mitchell knocked on under the high ball after 15 seconds.

Worse was to follow with Wallabies' skipper Stirling Mortlock forced to leave the field after a head-to-head clash with Jamie Roberts.

Both players lay on the ground and could not continue with Mortlock carried off immediately and Roberts lasting just 17 minutes.

Wales took full advantage of the early disruption for Australia when Williams touched down for the first try of the match inside four minutes.

Williams started the move with a trademark break before Roberts was denied by Mitchell's try-saving tackle. But Byrne's pass allowed Williams to score his 44th test try in the right corner.

Jones missed the conversion but Wales were in the ascendancy with number eight Andy Powell back to his destructive best with several powerful runs.

Australia hit back when Chisholm capitalised on a lucky bounce of the ball from a Wales attacking line-out on 12 minutes to sprint home from 70 metres.

Giteau added the conversion to put the visitors ahead before firing Australia into a 10-5 lead with a fine drop-goal midway through the half.

However, hooker Stephen Moore was yellow carded for a professional foul on the half hour and within a minute, Williams turned provider to allow Byrne to double the try count.

Jones converted for a 15-10 interval lead before Giteau pulled Australia back into contention with a 46th minute penalty.

But Jones edged Wales further clear with a 67th minute drop goal and late penalty before Ioane's late try for Australia and Giteau's missed conversion.

Reuters

Comment 14 - 33 of 33

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  1. oops spelt officials incorrectly, my mistake.

    From stephen j, on Thu 4 Dec 12:06AM

  2. 22. mutleyp. for your information my friend there are­ no rules in rugby union, there are laws. and law is­ subject to the interpretation of the match offials.­ that is why the kiwi's are so good at winning test­ matches. they do the home work on the laws and the­ match offials interpretation of the laws. oh and yes­ they can play a bit of footie too.

    From stephen j, on Wed 3 Dec 11:53PM

  3. Good on you lads. Australia only beat Italy by the skin­ of their teeth and, in my opinion at least, rather­ cynically too. Well done Wales.

    From John D, on Mon 1 Dec 5:02PM

  4. Not much menton of the Welsh victory in the sunday­ press - only big write-ups for the English disaster.

    From MG-Liv., on Mon 1 Dec 8:57AM

  5. Welsh and proud of the boys. Enjoy it but realise it­ nearly went away from us again. There is no denying our­ improvement but we still need to to improve alot more.­ Should av beat SA , we lost that game ourselves.­ Lineouts were awful. Great tension nail bitting. But­ lets get better, should av put em to bed by halftime ,­ then we are bordering on the best.
    SO THANKS FOR THE­ GREAT MOMENTS BOYS WELL DONE LETS JUST KEEP IMPROVING.

    From trufftastic, on Sun 30 Nov 12:30PM

  6. Hello Wales, and congratulations! As an Aussie I was­ disappointed, naturally, but on the day the best team­ won, we could make all sorts of excuses, obviously­ losing Mortlock was a big blow, having said that, Wales­ were the better team, & probably they wanted it­ more, the only saving grace was the way the Wallabies­ fought until the final whistle, one word of advice,­ don't gloat over the English, it's not smart,­ it's not clever ,and as always, let the result do­ the talking, Regards, Ned Kelly

    From jcastledineruiz, on Sun 30 Nov 11:54AM

  7. I get somewhat irritated by the attitude of fellow­ countrymen who are only concerned about the Welsh­ winning whilst the English lose. Come on you Welsh, we­ are playing on the world stage here with a nearly world­ class team. Stop worrying about the other side of­ Offa's @#$% and start getting behind the team as we­ move towards the next World Cup. Our biggest concern in­ the Northern Hemisphere must be how to breach the All­ Blacks' defence line - though the refs'­ reluctance to issue yellow cards for cynical killing of­ the ball has to go a long way towards assisting the All­ Blacks maintain their record.

    From Feltorange, on Sun 30 Nov 11:03AM

  8. Well done Wales, superb result. Australia were beaten­ by the "best team on the day".
    No disgrace in­ that Oz, you,ll have to get used to it now!

    From bowenbill, on Sun 30 Nov 10:37AM

  9. They're not great at the moment are they??????????­ Very casual performance yesterday...

    From dellautoservices, on Sun 30 Nov 9:36AM

  10. dellautoservices, You got to admit, spelling or not,­ the English rugby team is pretty much @#$%-ing useless.

    From mielies1, on Sun 30 Nov 9:23AM

  11. As a proud WELSHMAN living in NZ i am so happy for the­ boys doing over the aussies again,and also thats why­ Shane Williams was vote the best player in the world­ and Lee Byrne could be up there next year aswell ,he­ has got to be odds on favorite for the lions tour and­ the first choice no 15,he is trully world class and­ another player from my club the Ospreys.

    From steven.thomas45, on Sun 30 Nov 1:15AM

  12. Nice one lads, were a small country with a big heart,­ glad to see the poms next door lost two and by more­ than us. roll on the 6 nations could be two on the­ trot.

    From Taff, on Sat 29 Nov 10:51PM

  13. Awful Lineouts, Too much kicking possession away for­ long periods, but excellent team heart and­ performance!!! what an amazing atmosphere down there!!!­ the really bad point of the game was the referee!! He­ was atrocious for a supposed Professional referee, Give­ up now if you do not understand the basic rules of the­ game ref!!!!

    From mutleyp, on Sat 29 Nov 10:13PM

  14. on on wales u did well d it again next year and win­ the grand slam again come on the the boys

    From mark.baulch, on Sat 29 Nov 9:29PM

  15. And congratulation to Wales. It is the 2nd team in the­ world and the only one in the northern hemisphere that­ plays open games and entertains people and then manage­ to win games. Welsh Rugby team has always had a special­ place in the heart of New Zealanders and now it got­ even better since They beaten Australia :-)

    From Half A Brain, on Sat 29 Nov 9:15PM

  16. Half Welsh half English...Was at Twickenham watching­ the whites get beat.

    Nice win my Wales. But one win­ does not a great team make. You only have to go back to­ the Summer with those rabbit in the headlights­ performances in SA. Lots to be done, but Id like to be­ in Cardiff tonight!

    From Tim B, on Sat 29 Nov 9:14PM

  17. Michael, Australia has 22 millions. It is New Zealand­ that has 4 million people.

    From Half A Brain, on Sat 29 Nov 9:11PM

  18. Mae hen gwlad fy nhadau yn annwyl i mi.........

    From , on Sat 29 Nov 9:08PM

  19. what that about a small country austrlia has only four­ million and rugby union is not there major sport I am­ welsh though and loved it come on Six nations pity we­ did not get the 15 points to get fourth but hey we are­ now deservedly ranked above England for the first time­ in Years and to win the World cup we have to beat the­ best no point going the easy route, I am putting a bet­ on Monday wales for 2011

    From Michael, on Sat 29 Nov 8:51PM

  20. HEY HO

    A HAPPY ENGLISHMAN AM I .

    HAVE FOLLOWED THE­ DRAGONS SINCE GARETH EDWARDS , A PROPER LEGEND

    From geoffrey, on Sat 29 Nov 8:29PM
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