By Tomas Marks
Australia used their power and panache to outclass Wales in a difficult afternoon in Cardiff which left Warren Gatland questioning his own future as coach.
But Wales actually battled valiantly from 19-0 down to score 13 points and put some scoreboard pressure on the Wallabies at half time.
From there, Wales should have been confident of catching the Wallabies, especially with the Samu Kerevi 20-minute red card.
However, the team collapsed conceding 33 points in a lacklustre second half.
Australia came to Cardiff to power through Wales and their “A plan” worked a treat.
They managed to get their best ball-carriers on the ball with Angus Bell making 17 carries, Samu Kerevi 15, Rob Valetini 11, and Will Skelton 10.
Here's something that's not nothing:
The Wales-England double is the first time the #Wallabies have won consecutive games outside Australia since the 2019 RWC!
Outside RWCs, it's 2017, when they beat Japan on the way to the UK, then beat Wales first week of the Spring Tour…… pic.twitter.com/5neWzjxmCg
— Brett McKay (@BMcSport) November 17, 2024
This go-forward ball allowed their most potent backs to cause carnage and Tom Wright had a field day at full-back.
He scored a hat-trick of tries, but also made three line breaks and carried 243 metres in a scintillating individual performance.
It was reminiscent of other legendary Wallabies full-backs, like Chris Latham and Matt Burke from previous tours.
It is also evident from the data that Australia really worked the Welsh front row hard in defence as they had to make a total of 39 tackles between them.
By comparison, the Australian front row only made 23 tackles which allowed them to have more energy and thump in attack.
Wales made a total of 204 tackles with Jac Morgan making 27 and Christ Tshiunza making 21.
In all, Wales made 64 more tackles than Australia and this contributed to Wales’ lethargy in attack.
In the first half, Australia made 595 metres in attack and they were relentless in the opening 12 minutes, forcing Wales to make over 50 tackles.
This ferocity in attack enabled them to open up a 19-0 lead.
Wales did claw themselves back with a couple of excellent scrums, a try from Aaron Wainwright, and penalties from the boot of Gareth Anscombe.
Personally, I felt Wales should have used their momentum at 19-7 down to go for the corner, instead of the easy three points as they were on top at that period.
They also squandered an excellent dominant scrum from the forwards with a wasteful chip from Ben Thomas in the red zone.
This was a prime attacking ball for this new back line. Instead, they ended up chasing an exit kick back to their own 22.
Despite this poor decision-making they did exert some pressure on Australia in their own territory with a series of good defensive sets, until Archie Griffin was caught offside to give the Wallabies a penalty to relieve pressure.
Wales were dominant in the scrum against Australia in the first half and referee James Doleman favoured their dominance.
The shrewd Joe Schmidt removed his loosehead, Angus Bell, at half time – sending on veteran James Slipper – to change the negative picture for the referee.
This was one of a few areas that Schmidt outfoxed Warren Gatland in this Test match as the selection of Will Skelton not only added much needed power and weight, but it thwarted the Welsh driving line-out threat.
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This was a smart move from Schmidt and he had obviously learned lessons from the maul tries in the summer tests between the sides.
Here, Australia were smart and mature during the 20-minute red card with a sublime power performance for that period – providing two driving line-out tries and a sensible narrow attack.
They were also very astute in trapping slow Welsh tacklers like Dewi Lake and Aaron Wainwright on the floor to gain penalties.
But the most impressive aspect of that crucial time was the three turnovers they managed to create from Seru Uru, Tom Wright and Rob Valetini with only 14 players.
These turnovers were indicative of their hard work in defence and their post-tackle efforts.
Throughout the match, players like Skelton and Valetini were working tirelessly after the tackle to get the attacking pod to the floor and creating slow tempo for Wales.
These post-tackle efforts contributed to an average attacking performance from Wales.
Australia not only stopped the driving maul threat, but they turned over four line-outs in the closing stages of the match to terminate the Welsh fight-back.
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Australia will march on confidently to Murrayfield next Sunday with a game of power oand movement good enough to beat Scotland.
Despite this low ebb for Wales, there were some positives in this performance.
Wales had a strong scrum and there were impressive individual performances from winger Tom Rogers and flanker Jac Morgan.
Morgan was colossal for with 27 tackles, 14 carries and a turnover in a barnstorming performance.
But Wales will need to mix up their attack as the Wallabies taught them a lesson in manipulating defences with attacking kicks, inside passes, out the back passes, offloads, mauls, and changing the direction of attack.
This is a tough time for Wales, but after the record defeats in early noughties they turned it around and won the Six Nations in 2005.
There is still hope and the sun will come up tomorrow!
