Key battles won and lost: How The Wallaroos won against Wales
Ten minutes of ill discipline at the opening of the second half could have spelled the end for Australia, but instead it lit a fire under the Wallaroos who closed out their WXV 1 campaign with a ferocious rolling maul defence and a 25-19 win.
Wales held their own in a physical affair, with some powerful play through the centre of the park and aggressive tackling. They’ll rue missed chances in the first half though and allowing a comeback against a reduced strength team in the second will be a huge learning moment.
So where did Australia take the advantage against their Antipodean opposition? Let’s break it down:
Front Row – Advantage Wales
Eva Karpani once again shone for Australia, scoring another try, threatening around the field and being rock solid at set piece.
Wales built their attack around power and they don’t come much more powerful than Sisilia Tuipulotu who Australia struggled to contain. Carys Phillips was a scoring threat once again and a menace at the breakdown too. Relapcement hooker Kelsey Jones, at the back of an impressive maul, gave Wales hope in the closing minutes of the game.
Second Row – Advantage Australia
A fairly balanced match up, with both teams’ engine rooms providing a constant tackling threat and ferocious workrate.
A yellow card for Australia’s Sera Naiqama marred her performance while Georgia Evans stood out for Wales with her defensive display and a key turnover in the second half. Ashley Marstsers, on for the final 20 minutes for Australia, was a key piece in their late game resurgence.
Back Row – Advantage Wales
Siokapesi Palu impressed for Australia in the first half, before being red carded for a high tackle a minute into the second 40. Emily Chancellor was a constant ruck threat.
The Welsh back row didn’t shine individually in the same way, but as a unit they continually frustrated Australia’s urge for quick ball, slowing down rucks, hitting tackles time and again, continallyforcing the speedy Wallaroos to play through the centre.
Half backs – Advantage Australia
Keira Bevan and Lleucu George still seem to be finding their rhythm as a half back pairing, though both showed their kicking ability to create space for Wales. George’s 50:22 kick with just a minute to play showed what her team are capable of.
Carys Dallinger directed play for her team like a conductor in front of an orchestra, continually building to impressive crescendos. Layne Morgan was, by contrast, a pest in the way only the best scrum halves can be.
Centres – Advantage tied
A fairly quiet game for both sets of centres with neither team’s players doing much wrong but neither shining above the other either.
For Wales, Hannah Bluck typified her team’s workrate while Australia’s Arabella McKenzie showed flashes of her playmaking talent.
Outside Backs – Advantage Australia
Even when down to 13 players on the field, Australia’s outside backs continually found space and threatened with their speed of foot and thought. Ivania Wong, in particular, seemed dangerous every time she got a sniff of the ball and was rewarded with a try late on. Lori Cramer, on at full back in the second half, showed her nous by pouncing on a rolling ball to put her team back in the lead in the 67th minute.
By contrast Wales’ outside backs defended well (Lisa Neumann hit a couple of beautiful tackles), but just didn’t see enough ball to show their skill and an uncharacteristic fumble by Jasmine Joyce in the first half killed the first Welsh attack of the game dead.
Comments on RugbyPass
Why cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
31 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
4 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
31 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
31 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
31 Go to comments