Five takeaways from Australia v Wales

Adam Kyriacou

Following a 29-25 victory for Wales over Australia in their Rugby World Cup encounter, here’s our five takeaways from the clash in Tokyo on Sunday.

A game of two halves: These two sides love a thriller, don’t they? 13 of their last 14 meetings have been settled by nine points or fewer and once again it went down to the wire between them. Wales shot out the blocks with a drop-goal and try in a dominant period but credit to Australia who clawed themselves back into the contest and came agonisingly close to sealing what looked like an unlikely victory. It was a fantastic advert for the game and with millions of new viewers watching around the world, rugby union will no doubt pick up some fans after this.

28 minutes of class: He may have only been on for less than half-an-hour but what Dan Biggar provided for Wales cannot be understated. Right from the outset he threw down the challenge to Australia that Wales meant business as he landed a smart drop-goal that nudged his side in front. The fly-half continued to dominate the management of the game thereafter with a cool head seeing him pick out a waiting Hadleigh Parkes on the right sideline with a cross-kick while playing under penalty advantage. It was a shame his evening was cut short by failing his HIA after he felt the force of Samu Kerevi in contact. Wales will now hope he recovers with no issues.

Wales did their homework: During the warm-up Gareth Davies was practising hunting intercept passes and it was soon clear why. Will Genia has always been susceptible for taking too many steps before distributing at the base and while that can sometimes draw in defenders and thus create holes, doing it too often can become all too predictable. Wales knew that and Davies is one of the best in the business at snaffling the intercept, which he did in the first half for his try and almost managed again but for a fumble in the second. Bravo the analysts.

Game changing replacements: Australia head coach Michael Cheika made a bold call to change his number 10 and also sent on Kurtley Beale early in the second period and it paid off in droves. While the Wallabies couldn’t complete the fightback, to recover from 26-8 down and push Wales right to the wire was almost a masterstroke from Cheika. Some may however question why half-backs Nic White and Matt Toomua weren’t starting in Tokyo, with both players excellent in the second half as the game turned on its head. Hindsight is a beautiful thing…

Wales negated the ‘Pooper’ threat: The much talked about breakdown battle was not as dominant as the pre-match had suggested as Wales nullified the threat David Pocock and Michael Hooper pose. One can also add in hooker Tolu Latu here as he is also a real nuisance on the ground, but like his flankers he found precious few opportunities to pounce on Sunday. Wales were rapid to the breakdown and cleared out superbly throughout the game and that was one of the reasons why they came out on top, subsequently taking a firm grip of Pool D.

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