Australia v Wales 2nd Test Match Report

Wales let history slip in Melbourne as Australia claim a 25 - 23 victory in the second test match with a last gasp penalty from newcomer Mike Harris.

After last week’s disappointment at Suncorp Stadium Wales got off to the dream start. After sustained pressure and good work around the fringes, George North powered over from close range to open the scoring just 4 minutes into the game.

Berrick Barnes responded with a penalty and Australia began to dominate. The home team had the lion’s share of possession and territory due to a poor Welsh lineout preventing them from getting any sort of continuity.

Barnes slotted another penalty to bring the hosts to within a point and the more pressure Wales were put under the more mistakes they began to make.

Then on the stroke of halftime Berrick Barnes received clean ball off the top of the lineout, he went on to sell a dummy to the welsh midfield and go clean through to execute a simple two on one and send Rob Horne over for the try and the teams went in at the half with Australia leading 13 – 7.

The final try of the half is a prime example of the importance of giving your backline clean ball off the set piece; Wales had very little ball clean ball and were under pressure in the first 40, and as soon as Barnes gets good ball he glides through the defence to set up the 5-pointer.

Wales couldn’t have wished for a better start to the second half. A Wallaby set move goes wrong and Wales centre Ashley Beck hacks the ball downfield for his centre partner Jonathan Davies to win the footrace and Halfpenny converted to put Wales back in the lead.

In the second half the lead changed hands a total of 8 times as Barnes and Halfpenny traded penalties. However Wales missed a massive opportunity when Cooper Vuna was sin binned for tackling Leigh Halfpenny in the air, the correct decision and possibly warranted a red card. During that 10 minute period Wales only scored 3 points and with that a big opportunity had been missed.

It all came down to a Mike Harris penalty that came as a result of a powerful driving lineout and he stepped up to break Welsh hearts and give the home team a 25 – 23 victory.

This means that Australia have won the series and this tour is now considered a failure by the players, coaching staff and Welsh public.

Wales can be proud of their effort; their defence was extremely good and only leaked one try. They may feel they deserved a victory out of the game but ultimately the scoreboard doesn’t lie and once again Wales are looking for positives in defeat.

Wales seemed to lose composure with 90 seconds on the clock, with a knock on advantage rather than keeping the ball and closing the game out they kicked the ball 60 metres downfield allowing Australia the chance to march up field and claim victory.

Wales’ kicking again was extremely poor, they didn’t learn their lessons from last week. They kicked loosely and straight down the throat of Aussie full back Adam Ashley Cooper and Wales were simply unable to gain any territory.

I think it’s now time for Priestland to be dropped, Hook deserves to be given a chance because Priestlands form has been poor. Mike Phillips at times was guilty of trying to take on the whole of Australia by himself. I’d like to see Tipuric given some game time on the big stage because ultimately Sam Warburton has been second best to David Pocock this series and a few changes might help to revitalize the team.

So Wales set their stall out at the beginning of the tour claiming that nothing less than a series victory will do, and that hasn’t happened. Now it’s about trying to salvage something, a victory next week will make history and should begin to heal the wounds, now they have to pick themselves up as they head to Sydney still in search of the elusive ‘W’ in the Southern Hemisphere.

6 Nations Match Report: Ireland v Wales

Match Report: Ireland v Wales

Wales came out on top in thrilling encounter on Sunday. 51,000 fans packed out the Aviva Stadium who were entertained with some great tries and drama until the very end.

This was the game that everyone was waiting for, after an expected French win over the Italians and the mistake-riddled English victory over the Scottish everybody turned to Dublin and the Aviva Stadium for their rugby fix on the weekend, and it did not disappoint.

The game was as close as it gets with the lead changing hands 5 times providing a thrilling spectacle for the neutral and a game that was destined to go down to the wire. However Wales fullback Leigh Halfpenny held his nerve in the final minute and slotted the match-winning penalty; a penalty that would be routine in any other situation.

After an early Jonny Sexton penalty Wales enjoyed some early pressure and really dominated the first 25 minutes of the game with Mike Phillips, George North and Jamie Roberts all getting agonizingly close to crossing the whitewash. After 13 minutes Wales centre Jonathan Davies crossed over with a good finish out wide after some nifty footwork and a brilliant offload out of the tackle by Rhys Priestland.

Wales then continued to stretch the Irish but were failing to turn it into points. Ireland then made Wales pay on the stroke of half time, Irish wing Tommy Bowe got on the outside of Priestland leaving newcomer Alex Cuthbert wondering whether to step in or drift – in the end he did neither – and Bowe sent over hooker Rory Best from 10 metres out, Ireland went in ahead 10 – 5 at the break.

During halftime news came through that would have sent shivers down the spine of the majority of Welsh fans, Sam Warburton would not return for the second half, he suffered a dead leg during the first half and was unable to continue – on came Osprey Justin Tipuric. Also James Hook came on to replace debutant Alex Cuthbert who hadn’t really influenced play at all and looked vulnerable during the Irish try. At this point I feared without Captain Sam the Irish back row of Heaslip, Ferris and O’Brien would gain parity and then it would be a case of by how much Ireland would win.

Sexton slotted another penalty early on in the second half and it seemed as though the game was slipping away from Wales. Enter George North who sparked Wales in to life, on 53 minutes his sublime take from a Sexton high ball led to a Halfpenny penalty and Wales were beginning to find their feet. Then just a minute later off the top ball from a Wales line out, 40 metres out, Priestland slides the ball to North who launches at the Irish midfield, bulldozing through Fergus McFadden, North then finds Jonathan Davies with a lovely offload out of the tackle who sprints in from 35 metres, Wales back on track 13 – 15 – But would injured Brian O’Driscoll have missed that tackle on North…

Ireland responded quickly with another Penalty from Sexton 16-15 now – game on. Then disaster for Wales, second row Bradley Davies sees the red mist and is yellow carded for lifting Donnacha Ryan and dropping him to the floor during a ruck, lucky it wasn’t a red.

Tommy Bowe made the 1 man advantage count and goes over for a try in the corner, however Sexton fails to convert a tricky conversion, and then prods a penalty attempt wide 21 – 15 heading into the final 10.

In the 73^rd minute North crossed over in the corner – taking 3 Irish defenders with him – a powerful finish, Halfpenny failed to convert leaving the scores 21-20. Then in the 80^th minute Ferris gives away a penalty for a tip tackle on Ian Evans, in my opinion I think it is a penalty, the right side of Ian Evans is on it’s way to vertical when he hits the ground and I think it was justifiable. So up steps Halfpenny to slot the penalty and Wales come out on top in an epic encounter 21 - 23.

The Analysis

At halftime I felt that Wales were going to be made to pay for their inability to convert early pressure into points. I could sense Ireland coming into the game and there were glimpses when the Irish back row got an offloading game going that looked ominous.

Jamie Roberts did well in midfield but never really stood out, on the other hand when you’ve got George North running over people Roberts wasn’t really missed.

Out wide we had too much for them, as was expected the game would be ours if the forwards provided a platform and Ireland looked dangerous when that platform was wavering. Wales lost 4 lineouts which is a bit of a worry but Ireland are renowned for their work in that facet of the game.

The scrums remained solid throughout, after an early penalty on the Irish line given away by young Rhys Gill I did worry that he may be over-excited, but he seemed to calm down and had a good game.

When Tipuric came on at halftime he had an outstanding game, it definitely did not weaken Wales when he entered the fray. Faletau was outstanding again, carrying Wales across the gain line on numerous occasions. Ryan Jones was also impressive, the loss of Dan Lydiate was always going to be felt, but Jones stepped up and worked tirelessly in defence and also carried well.

Priestland had an average game by his recent standards, after starting superbly I think his misses from the tee may have knocked his confidence slightly, and he is a confidence player. I don’t worry about his form going into next weekend, and I feel he’ll put in a good performance.

Jonathan Davies had an excellent game going forward, he had the beating off Fergus McFadden from the start and never relented. Scoring both of Wales’ tries and proving to be a handful throughout the game he was key to Wales’ victory.

The extent of Warburton’s inury is still unclear, he will have a better idea about his fitness on Tuesday or Wednesday.

Bradley Davies is almost certain to be absent at the weekend. The citing commissioner for the game has until 5pm on Tuesday to make his decision. If he is cited Davies would then face a hearing later on in the week, a ban of 4 weeks or more is not out of the question – this could devastate Wales’ 6 Nations hopes with Alun Wyn-Jones and Luke Charteris already out injured. Dan Lydiate may be fit to welcome the Scots to Cardiff which would probably mean Ryan Jones would move up to second row to replace Davies.