The mercurial fly half was yellow carded with five minutes remaining to sit out a frenetic finale as Wales attempted to grab a last gasp victory. Warren Gatland’s men had pegged back the Wallabies lead to four points but they ran out of time as Australia hung on to continue their dominance over Wales having won all nine of the previous Tests between the two sides dating back to 2009.
Wales will gain little consolation from a contest which saw them led the southern hemisphere giants 13-3 at one stage in the first half after George North had given the home side a perfect start inside two minutes.
Wales broke out of defence from deep inside their own territory before North hoofed downfield and chased his own kick. Adam Ashley-Cooper looked to have the bobbling ball covered but he kicked it towards the try-line where the Wales winger was quickest to react to give Wales the perfect start. Leigh Halfpenny rammed the ball through the posts from the touchline to give Wales an early 7-0 lead.
Halfpenny increased the lead with a penalty after the Wallabies were penalised for holding back before Australia finally got on the scoreboard in the 14th minute when Christian Leali’ifano struck over an easy penalty.
Wales made a mess of a lineout but Richard Hibbard’s tackle on opposite number Stephen Moore saw the Wallaby hooker knock the ball forward, putting his colleagues off side. Halfpenny’s wide angled shot from near halfway never looked like missing as Wales extended their lead to 13-3.
Australia then dazzled Wales with a breath taking try.
Flanker Michael Hooper ripped Hibbard of the ball in the tackle and quick as a flash the Wallaby backline swept into action – Will Genia and Ashley-Cooper went right before Cooper flicked the ball to winger Joe Tomane. He flirted with the touchline before passing inside to Leali’ifano who touched down. He added the extras to bring Australia right back in the contest.
On the front foot with Mike Phillips in charge of affairs, the red machine ramped through the gears to tear into the Wallabies defence. Another penalty opportunity arose and Dan Biggar stepped up and slotted the penalty to put Wales 16-10 in front after 32 minutes.
Cooper’s trickery opened up the Welsh defence again but Genia couldn’t take the try-scoring pass from Tomane.
Wales were then reduced to 14 men when Bigger received a yellow card for a professional foul. The Wallabies scented blood and went for the jugular.
Despite huge defensive hits by North and Hibbard, Australia dangerman Israel Folau shrugged off Phillips with ease to surge over. Leali’ifano’s conversion put Australia in front for the first time.
Ryan Bevington replaced Gethin Jenkins at halftime but with Biggar still in the sin bin, the Wallabies attacked from the re-start. Nick Cummins surged through to set up another Leali’ifano penalty and the centre popped over the easy penalty to put the Wallabies 16-20 ahead.
Cooper was pulling the strings superbly from fly half for the Wallabies – the Welsh defence seemed mesmerised with his dazzling skills. The Wallabies dominated possession before Tomane scooped up a ball and dotted down out wide. Leali’ifano landed an excellent touchline conversion to put the Wallabies in control at 16-27.
Hooper was clamping on to everything at rucks and mauls to give the Wallabies a clear advantage at the breakdown. Leali’ifano increased the lead with another penalty after Wales were penalised again at a ruck.
However Wales didn’t throw in the towel with North powering his way over for his second try of the match. Biggar’s conversion from under the posts brought the score to 23-30.
Wales made a number of substitutions to inject some energy into the side – one of those – Rhys Priestland became the third goalkicker to knock over a penalty to bring Wales within four points of the Wallabies with 11 minutes remaining.
Cooper failed to last the distance after he was given a yellow card for pulling back Scott Williams before he got the ball and for the remaining minutes of the match Wales tore into the Wallabies.
Despite their best efforts Sam Warburton’s men were unable to find a way through as Australia were able to hang on an claim their fifth victory in a row in Cardiff since 2009.
