By Phoebe Awiti
Wales made breaking news yesterday, as they were beaten 52-20 by the Wallabies. This is the lowest Wales has ever fallen in their 143-year international rugby history, with head coach Warren Gatland having now presided over 17 losses from 23 Tests during his second stint in charge.
The defeat by Australia yesterday was the 11th consecutive loss. That sequence has included three defeats by Australia and further losses against Argentina, Scotland, England, Ireland, France, Italy, South Africa and Fiji.
Australia scored eight tries at the Principality marking their biggest win over Wales in Cardiff. it was an embarrassing defeat at home, with Wales funs left the stadium even before the end of the match.
This was not always the case. Only fourteen months ago, Wales won 40-6 at the World Cup in Paris in September, but they are yet to secure a win over international opposition since that tournament. it was under couch Gatland that Wales won the World Cup quarter-final, but since then his side have not won a Test match for 407 days. The poor performance on Sunday, leaves the position of head coach Warren Gatland under scrutiny. The question whether he should go of stay is becoming louder after every match.
During his first period in charge of Wales, Gatland managed to lead his team to World Cup semi-final appearances, Six Nations titles and Grand Slams, but now Wales are still without a win since the 2023 World Cup. He now finds himself under pressure. Some people have called for him to resign while other accuse him of already “checking out”.
The fulltime.
Australia gained control early and scored three tries within the first nine minutes, with Tom Wright, Nick Frost and Matt Faessler all crossing.
Aaron Wainwright of Wales managed a try at 19-0 followed by two penalty kicks from Gareth Anscombe to end the half trailing by 19-13.
Wales failed to take advantage of Samu Kerevi’s 20 minutes sin-bin early in the second half, as his yellow card was later upgraded to a red. Despite being one man less, the Wallabies still managed to score two more tries and to claim a hat-trick through Faessler.
Towards the end of the match, Australia got another try through Wright as Ben Thomas managed another one for Wales, who were still far behind with a miserable 20 points. Australia crowned it all when first Len Ikitau scored, and then Wright claimed his hat-trick as the game came to an end. “A great result, we weren’t perfect tonight by any means, but the git we showed there… really pleased with the result”. Skipper Wainwright said during the post-match conference.
“We felt like the maul was giving us the ascendancy and it was an area we wanted to keep going,” Alaalatoa said to the press during the post match conference.
The Welsh Rugby Union leadership must be asking itself a lot of questions as the team prepares to face world champions South Africa next weekend.
Line-ups
Wales: Winnett; Rogers, Llewellyn, B Thomas, Murray; Anscombe, Bevan; G Thomas, Lake (capt), Griffin, Rowlands, Beard, Botham, Morgan,
Replacements: Elias, N Smith, Assiratti, Tshiunza, Reffell, R Williams, Costelow, James
Australia: Wright; Kellaway, Ikitau, Kerevi, Jorgensen; Lolesio, White; Bell, Faessler, Alaalatoa, Frost, Skelton, Uru, McReight, Valetini.
Replacements: Paenga-Amosa, Slipper, Nonggorr, Salakaia-Loto, Gleeson, McDermott, Donaldson, Suaalii.
Twenty-minute red card: Kerevi 41
Referee: James Doleman (New Zealand)
