The Grand Slam champions pushed Australia right to the wire after being swept away in the early stages of both halves by the mesmeric Wallabies but with captain David Pocock inspirational at the breakdown, and Will Genia giving a world class performance at scrum half, the home side were hugely relieved to came away with a hard fought win.
The under-fire Wallabies bounced back from their shock mid-week defeat to Scotland to answer their critics in emphatic fashion.
Genia and his halfback partner Berrick Barnes both entered the game under immense pressure from their home fans to perform but both gave a master class in distribution, execution and intelligence to answer their critics with aplomb. Barnes is considered only the fifth choice outside half in Australia, so you fear for Wales in the second Test if Wallabies coach Robbie Deans brings in one of the other four in his place.
Australia looked in full control at 20-6 but Wales showed guts and character to strike back to within a point but Pat McCabe’s late try put the issue beyond the men in red.
In a match full of intense brutality in defence and attack, both sides suffered injuries in a fiercely competitive encounter. Wales centre Scott Williams and Australian hooker Tatafu Polota-Nau both left the pitch groggy midway through the second half after a clash of heads while George North also failed to last the distance after limping out of the contest.
Wales were also undone by their own mistakes with poor decision-making adding to their woes. Their kicking game was below par while the set-piece wasn’t as dominant as expected where the Wallabies started with an entirely new front row after their scrum was blitzed by Scotland.
The opening exchanges was all one way with the influential Barnes knocking over his first penalty after Adam Jones was penalised for not rolling away at a ruck.
Scott Higginbotham, another Wallaby who stood out throughout, scored his first Test try in the 15th minute when he powered through the Welsh defence close to the line. Barnes conversion giving Australia a 10-0 lead.
With Wales unable to get their hands on the ball, Warburton’s men had to wait until the 20th minute before getting a sniff of any points. The lethal Leigh Halfpenny stopped the rot by drilling over a penalty in the 20th minute to give the Welsh faithful hope.
The second half didn’t begin any better for Wales when Genia exploded into action. He ghosted past front rowers Ken Owens and Jones, before leaving James Kook clutching thin air with a dummy, as he left Toby Faletau in his wake to the try-line in with a stunning solo try. Barnes conversion put Australia 17-3 in front.
Wales reduced the arrears with another Halfpenny penalty after David Pocock didn’t roll away in the tackle area.
Barnes then banged over a snap drop goal to put Australia in control but with fresh legs on the pitch as British Lions trio Matthew Rees, Alun Wyn Jones and Ryan Jones entered the fray, Wales chiselled away at the lead.
Halfpenny knocked over another penalty before Wales stunned Australia with a well worked try. With Australia’s previously teak tough defence beginning to creak, Ashley Beck deftly off-loaded to Alex Cuthbert who burst clear to score out wide. Halfpenny’s conversion brought the score to 20-16 and with another penalty to Halfpenny suddenly there was just one point in it and the game was on a knife-edge.
However it was man of the match Will Genia who once again grabbed the game by the scruff of the neck, sniping between Mike Phillips and Beck to send a slide-rule pass to the on-rushing Pat McCabe who scored unopposed under the posts. Appropriately it was his halfback partner Barnes who hammered the final nail into coffin with the easy conversion.
