Wales’ autumn finished with a chaotic and calamitous defeat that epitomised the depth to which they have sunk under Wayne Pivac.
Despite Australia being down to the absolute bare bones player-wise, Wales still managed to toss away what should have been a winning position with some shocking game management.
Two yellow cards in the last 13 minutes fatally undermined them, with captain Justin Tipuric and replacement hooker Ryan Elias both sent to the cooler – which triggered a decisive momentum swing at just the wrong time for Wales. But still Pivac’s men should have got home.
Australia had scrum-half Jake Gordon and replacement prop Tom Robinson yellow-carded earlier in the game and were on the rack for large spells. But ultimately two tries from Jac Morgan, one from Test cap centurion Taulupe Faletau and young winger Rio Dyer were not enough.
Wallaby scores from hooker Folua Fainga’a, two from wing Mark Nawaqanitawase and the all-important last-gasp touchdown from substitute front row Lachlan Lonergan helped the tourists to a win that had looked unlikely all afternoon.
Not the real Aussies
What makes this defeat manifestly more difficult to swallow is the fact this Australian side was unrecognisable from what we have come to expect from the green and gold in a Cardiff autumn. So obliterated were they by injuries and unavailability there were probably water-diviners in the remotest parts of the bush who featured in the midweek selection conversation.
Sometimes, when teams cite injuries as a reason for shortcomings, it’s easy to give it short-shrift. But there are occasionally exceptions. This was one.
Context is everything. Wales lost to Australia. Australia B.
Wales significantly better
Yes, context IS everything. But all the same, what must grate for home supporters is that Wales were considerably better compared to the dishevelled rabble they were against Georgia.
They were more organised and they were far more cohesive in terms of their attacking structures. Three-nicely worked tries tell its own story on that front, though wing Rio Dyer crossed in the 52nd minute while Australia had prop Tom Robinson in the sin-bin.
How those attacking structures would have fared against a Shaun Edwards defence is another matter, but all the same there was more potency, there was more intent, there was more urgency.
Furthermore, Wales actually started to win one-on-one collisions on something like a consistent basis, something virtually absent from previous outings this November. So, unquestionably, the response to one of the darkest days in Welsh rugby history drew a general thumbs-up. Until the carnage at the end.
Late mayhem
Nothing is ever straightforward with Wales. When Tipuric was sin-binned in the 67th minute for a football-style trip on Pete Samu, who might have sprinted clear after taking an interception, alarm bells sounded.
Sure enough, from the next attack Nawaqanitawase got his second try and it was game on again going into the last 10 minutes.
When Elias followed Tipuric in the 74th minute, conceding a penalty try in the process, Pivac must have broken out into a cold sweat. It was typical nonsensical self-destruction from Wales.
And it just underlined the lack of a ruthless, cold edge in this group, a lack of ability to manage a game, to see out a victory without fuss when in position.
Wales blow chance for big half-time lead
If you had offered Wales a 20-13 half-time lead at kick-off, they would have bitten your hand off. But it should have been even better.
Just before the end of the first period the Wallabies had scrum-half Jake Gordon sin-binned for cynically preventing replacement scrum-half Kieran Hardy from recycling at the base of a ruck after wing Rio Dyer had been held up short.
Wales went for the scrum pushover, but after three more penalties at the set-piece and Australia on a final warning from referee Matt Carley, the gold shirts managed to disrupt and keep the home side out.
It was a waste from Wales’ point of view. They should have gone in at 27-13 to the good.
Scrum success
Looking for Welsh plus points this autumn has been a thankless task, but the scrum was definitely one here, particularly in the first half.
They were penalised in the first one, but thereafter took charge. Before that passage of play just before the interval they had already won two scrum penalties.
Dillon Lewis was the cornerstone of an excellent front row effort in this department from the home side up against an all-Brumbies Australian tight-five. When your backs are to the wall like Wales’ are right now, you have to be grateful for anything.
Morgan to the fore once more
He was the one positive to emerge amid the ignominy of last weekend’s defeat to Georgia – and Jac Morgan followed that up superbly.
Ironically he was passed over for selection initially because Pivac didn’t think he was a good enough ball carrier. But the Ospreys man is standing out as one of Wales’ main ball-carriers now – and they’re not overly stocked with those.
Morgan’s ability to get over the gain-line and punch holes in defences is priceless. Yet again he got on the try-scoring sheet with his side’s first, a formidable leg-drive and dextrous reach for the line demonstrating real class after Alun Wyn Jones’ delightful one-handed flip-pass.
It was Morgan’s break which set up the field position and forced the Aussie defensive error that allowed Anscombe to slot a penalty to put Wales 20-6 ahead in the 27th minute.
Morgan has been the find of the autumn for Wales.
Jury out on Pivac
The Wales coach was largely undemonstrative as he watched on from the usual Principality Stadium booth.
His future, until we hear from the WRU in the aftermath of this campaign, will remain the subject of conjecture.
Even if Wales had won, it would have been naïve to conclude this result would have saved him from an early dismissal because it was never about this being some sort of win-or-bust scenario. This result does next to nothing to reassure anyone that this team is on the right track moving towards next year’s World Cup.
Some critics prefer to focus on the bigger picture of WRU governance and regional ineptitude, but none of those excuse how poor Pivac’s Wales have been throughout 2022.
Will the union stick or twist? Stick, probably.
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