The Bronze final, the game that no one wants to play in. This is especially true of the two teams in today’s 3rd\4th playoff. Wales, the darlings of the tournament lost, heartbreakingly to France in the semi-final after having their captain controversially sent off in the first quarter. Australia were given a rugby lesson by their greatest rivals New Zealand and wanted to redress the balance in this, a replay of the same match of the very first tournament back in 1987. There was also an interesting subtext in that Australia will face Wales in each of their next 5 test matches, today, in Cardiff in December and then a 3 match series down under in the summer.
Wales and Australia hit by Injuries
Both sides had injuries and players missing, Sam Warbuton, Wales’ captain and talisman received a three match ban for his tip tackle in the semi-final and also had Adam Jones their tighthead and influential young outside half Rhys Priestland missing through injury. The Australians had made several changes, some forced such as McCabe , Vickerman, Kepu and Moore along with several other tactical alterations including an entirely new front row.
Australia had the first opportunity when Charteris was deemed to be offside making a last ditch tackle close to the line, but they spurned the kick and took it quickly, only to drop the ball. To make it worse Kurtley Beale, back after missing the semi-final, re-injured his hamstring. They did open the scoring a few minutes later when Berrick Barnes charged over untouched under the posts. Ironically, the scrum they scored from was awarded despite a dangerous, ‘no arms’ tackle on Shane Williams which should have seen at least a yellow, if not worse, based on the sending off of Warbuton last week.
Quade Cooper Suffers Bad Knee Injury
Wales slowly worked their way into the game and hit back with a James Hook penalty when Australia’s scrum was penalised under their own posts. More disaster struck for Australia as the increasingly influential Quade Cooper injured his knee badly with no-one in contact with him on 20 minutes, a sad end to a stellar player who had a World Cup to forget. The initial diagnosis on Cooper’s knee was a ligament injury which could keep him out of the game for 6 months.
Injuries and blood bin changes knocked the game out of its stride in the 2nd part of the first half and despite the increasing superiority of the Australian scrum over a Welsh set piece badly missing Adam Jones, there were no further scores in a half which finished 7-3 to the Wallabies.
Hook’s poor tournament continued in the 2nd half. First he shovelled poor ball onto Roberts, who somehow managed to make a yard and win a penalty, then Hook managed to miss from right in front of the posts, compounding his poor kicking in the semi-final which cost Wales a place in the final.
Shane Williams Score Puts Wales Back Ahead
The game sparked into life on 50 minutes, when Ryan Jones won yet another turnover, Phillips chipped through for Hook to gather. His offload looked forward, but Shane Williams hacked on and re-gathered to score brilliantly. There are rumours that Williams will play one more game in Cardiff in December, but if this is his last game, this was a really nice way to finish his outstanding career. Hook again missed the kick and was substituted for Steven Jones, 8-7 to Wales.
Wales lead was short lived when Pocock won a penalty at the breakdown and O’Connor knocked a good kick over from 45 metres. He followed it up with another a few minutes later to make it 13-8 to the Gold and Green. The game looked to have been put out of Wales’ reach when Berwick Barnes capped a superb all round kicking display with a 40 metre drop goal. This extended the lead to 8 points, but Steven Jones brought the Welsh back within a score with a well struck 40 minute penalty with 10 minutes left.
Australia Close out Game
It looked as though Australia had finally broken the Welsh defence when a sweeping move following a turnover saw the Wallabies moving up the right hand side. Somehow, George North covering from the other wing made a magnificent tackle and stripped the ball. It was too little too late though and no. 8 Ben McCalman gave the scoreline an appropriate look of 21-11 when he outflanked the tiring Welsh defence with 2 minutes to go.
Wales did have the final word when Leigh Halfpenny squeezed in at the corner after sustained pressure with time up on the clock. Jones converted to make the final score 21-18 leaving them once more rueing a series of missed kicks.
Neil Hughes - Growing up in West Wales, there was little doubt that rugby would be one of the great passions of my life. I played with great enthusiasm ...
Join the Conversation