November 30, 2008

INSPIRED Wales dealt Australia a reality check at Millennium Stadium, denying the spring tourists a rare northern hemisphere clean sweep with a gripping 21-18 victory.

The Wallabies were unable to recover from a chaotic first half in which they lost skipper Stirling Mortlock and winger Peter Hynes, both to head knocks, and also had hooker Stephen Moore sin-binned for a professional foul.

The battered Australians were fortunate not be trailing by more than five points at the break and, once Welsh fly half Stephen Jones potted a 76th-minute penalty goal to put his side eight points up, their dreams of becoming the first Wallabies since 1996 to complete a four-Test spring tour of Europe lay in tatters.

For Wales, it was an ecstatic end to a memorable year in which they also won the Six Nations crown and also challenged South Africa and New Zealand during their autumn program.

The Australians had been expecting a torrid time from the Wales' rushing defence, rated the fastest in world rugby, but they couldn't possibly have been expecting what transpired in the second minute.

Welsh centre Jamie Roberts absolutely pole-axed Mortlock in an ugly off-the-ball collision as the Australia captain appeared to be hunting an intercept.

Mortlock was in Disneyland and, after several minutes' treatment, had to be replaced, with rookie Quade Cooper being thrust into the centres.

The incident rattled the Wallabies while lifting Wales, who crossed for a breathtaking try just two minutes later.

And it was the newly-crowned world player of the year Shane Williams who completed the movement, the fleet-footed winger diving over in the right corner to give Wales a 5-0 lead.

Phil Waugh assumed the captaincy and had an almighty job trying to restore composure amongst the shell-shocked Wallabies.

Wales dominated for most of the first half, but a crucial 65m runaway try to lock Mark Chisholm, after he swooped on a loose ball at the back of a lineout, and Matt Giteau's conversion plus a 25th-minute drop goal briefly gave Australia a 10-5 lead.

The Wallabies' woes continued, though, with Hynes forced off on the half hour, prompting coach Robbie Deans to throw Lote Tuqiri into the fray for the first time all tour – before Moore received his yellow card in the 27th minute.

Wales took full advantage in his absence, full-back Lee Byrne running a beautiful line off a Williams short pass to score untouched in the 31st minute.

Jones' conversion gave the European champions a 15-10 half-time lead, but Deans would have been hugely relieved to get to his troops before any more damage was inflicted.

But there was little relief after the interval, with the Wallabies also having to contend with referee Alan Lewis – Australia's nemesis in the Bledisloe Cup loss to New Zealand in Hong Kong four weeks ago.

While missing countless Welsh forward passes, Lewis repeatedly punished the Wallabies again at the breakdown and only some wayward goalkicking from Jones prevented the home team from increasing their lead.

The final insults came in the closing five minutes when, after patiently working their way towards the Welsh line through gritty and well-constructed forward play, Lewis again pinged the Wallabies for a ruck infringement.

A minute later, Lewis handed Wales another penalty after Cooper had been tackled in the air, prompting the flabbergasted Wallabies to berate the Irishman, who marched Australia back 10 metres.

The advance allowed Jones to drive the final nail in the coffin with a 35m penalty goal.

A consolation try in the dying stages to winger Digby Ioane proved just that – scant consolation for a spirited but vain effort.