An ugly bloody match, this, and glorious for it. Suffocatingly tight throughout and defined, in the end, by seven minutes of furious play in the middle of the second half. During it, Australia, down to 13 men, defended their try-line as though their families’ lives depended on their keeping the Welsh from crossing it. And how the Welsh tried, wave after wave of attack, in every which way they knew how. From scrums and lineouts, from forwards and backs, from blindside and open, from in tight and out wide. Everywhere they went, every which way they came, Australia were there, covering every step, tracking every pass, battering back every drive. “They put their bodies on the line,” said Warren Gatland of the Australians afterwards. They surely did. Wales fought their way over twice in this little stretch of the match, but didn’t get the ball down either time. The Australians always managed to get something – a boot, a head, a hand – in the way.
They were unbreakable. And if anyone is going to get the better of them before the tournament is over, they will need more than brute force to do it. Gatland’s Wales can be a blunt instrument, but this series of sledgehammer blows would have broken most teams. If Australia’s attacking play last week was impressive, their defence this week was astonishing. “It was a different type of game for us so we had to show a different skin,” said Michael Cheika. “If they say behind every good man is a good woman, then behind every good attack is a good defence.” Whatever Cheika is doing, it’s working.
As for Wales, Sam Warburton was able to say, quite rightly: “I can sit here and not have any regrets, because we tried everything.” So they did. And Australia were equal to all of it. In total, they made 129 tackles, Wales 69. And Australia missed 10, Wales 15.
The first half was excruciatingly tight. Australia may have won the previous 10 Tests between the two teams, but there hadn’t been more than a score separating them in any of the past five. The two packs, almost exactly equal in weight, were so evenly matched that the first scrum stuck fast, entirely stationary, no one giving an inch, up, down, or back.
Wales dominated the first quarter, with 75% of the possession and territory. Trouble was, all they had to show for it was three points won from a penalty at another scrum. Australia, their possession stymied by the way the Welsh tacklers were making their runners stand up in the tackle, didn’t even get into the opposition 22 until the 20th minute. By then, the balance of the scrums had shifted, and Australia had gained the edge. They won one against the head deep in Welsh territory, and so Bernard Foley levelled the scores with a penalty.
Space was at such a premium, all either side had to work with in attack was the indiscipline of the other. So the scores crept up three points at a time. Until, right before half-time, Dan Biggar missed a penalty, ending a streak of 15 successful kicks. Gatland picked it out as a turning point in the match. It meant Australia led by 9-6 at half-time. That became 12-6 soon after, when Taulupe Faletau was penalised for a neck-roll in the tackle. You felt something had to give; in the 58th minute, Australia did. Davies charged down a kick in Australia’s 22 and, while Foley managed to clear the ball, Warburton was soon running it right back at him. Davies tapped and ran a penalty, Will Genia took him out and was sent to the sin-bin. Wales, a man up, kicked to the corner and drove on to the line.
Every spare body piled in to help, from North to, at the very end, Davies himself. But Wales were held. So they turned to a series of short drives. First came Liam Williams dashing in from deep on Davies’ inside. Then Alun Wyn Jones dipped his head and pounded straight into Stephen Moore. Then Warburton again. And finally Faletau. He crossed the line, but knocked the ball on as he did it. They came back for a penalty for an earlier off-side. Another lineout, another drive. This time, Dean Mumm was done for taking out Wyn-Jones while he was in the air. Off he went to join Genia on the sidelines. Australia were two men down and there for the taking.
Or so they should have been. Instead, they held fast, their seven forwards surviving a series of scrums. When Wales went wide to North on the one side, Ben McCalman was there to haul him down. When Wales went the other way, Jamie Roberts was brought down short. Australia made 15 tackles in the space of two minutes. “Heroic,” said Warburton, “courageous”. Moore shrugged. “Just guys doing their job.” Cheika smiled. Asked if it would spur his team’s morale, he said: “You don’t get belief from things like this. You need belief to get through things like this.” Australia will take some stopping.
