Wales took Australia apart piece by piece on Sunday evening at the OL Stadium in Lyon to secure a brilliant 40-06 win which secured their place in the 2023 Rugby World Cup quarter-finals.
Wales did not waste any time and struck through the midfield of Australia with Gareth Davies scoring their first try under the poles after just three minutes of play.
Unfortunately, the rest of the first half did not produce any tries although Australia added two and Wales three converted penalties. Wales led 19-06 at the halftime break with the match still balanced on a knife's edge.
Wales continued to gain from the ill-discipline of Australia when Gareth Anscombe converted a fourth penalty almost from the kick-off in the second half.
Wales continued to dominate in the second half and following a patient build-up Nick Tompkins followed up a Gareth Anscombe grubber and scored Wales' second try to increase their lead to 29-06 after just ten minutes of play in the first half.
Gareth Anscombe added two more converted penalties and a drop goal to Wales' scoresheet, whereafter, Wales sealed a great win and place in the 2023 Rugby World Cup quarter-finals when captain Jac Morgan scored their third try to win 40-06.
Scorers:
Wales: Tries: Gareth Davies, Nick Tompkins, Jac Morgan. Conversions: Dan Biggar, Gareth Anscombe (2). Penalties: Gareth Anscombe (6). Drop Goal: Gareth Anscombe.
Australia: Penalties: Ben Donaldson (2)
Teams:
Wales: 1 Gareth Thomas, 2 Ryan Elias, 3 Tomas Francis, 4 Will Rowlands, 5 Adam Beard, 6 Aaron Wainwright, 7 Jac Morgan (c), 8 Taulupe Faletau, 9 Gareth Davies, 10 Dan Biggar, 11 Josh Adams, 12 Nick Tompkins, 13 George North, 14 Louis Rees-Zammit, 15 Liam Williams. Replacements: 16 Elliot Dee, 17 Corey Domachowski, 18 Henry Thomas, 19 Dafydd Jenkins, 20 Taine Basham, 21 Tomos Williams, 22 Gareth Anscombe, 23 Rio Dyer.
Australia: 1 Angus Bell, 2 David Porecki (c), 3 James Slipper, 4 Nick Frost, 5 Richard Arnold, 6 Robert Leota, 7 Tom Hooper, 8 Rob Valetini, 9 Tate McDermott, 10 Ben Donaldson, 11 Marika Koroibete, 12 Samu Kerevi, 13 Jordan Petaia, 14 Mark Nawaqanitawase, 15 Andrew Kellaway. Replacements: 16 Matt Faessler, 17 Blake Schoupp, 18 Pone Fa’amausili, 19 Matt Philip, 20 Fraser McReight, 21 Nic White, 22 Carter Gordon, 23 Suli Vunivalu.