Wales 40-6 Australia: Wonderful Wales hammer Australia to seal last eight spot 

Wales (16) 40 

Tries: G Davies, Tompkins, Morgan   Cons: Biggar, Anscombe    Pens: Anscombe (6) DG: Anscombe 

Australia (6) 6 

Tries:   Cons:     Pens: Donaldson (2) 

Having battled hard in the first half to gain a ten-point lead at the break through a solitary well-worked early try from Gareth Davies, the Welsh destroyed their error-strewn Aussie counterparts in the 40 minutes with further scores through Nick Tomkins and captain Jac Morgan 

After the early loss of Dan Biggar with a shoulder injury Welsh fans must have been thinking it was not going to be their day. Boy would they be wrong as the boot of replacement Gareth Anscombe kicked 23 points as Wales would be clinical in execution of Wallaby ill-discipline. 

For Scarlets experienced fly-half Anscombe, it would be a remarkable turnaround after suffering a horrific ACL injury four years ago in a World Cup warm-up match against England that would see the fly-half miss the World Cup in Japan. 

Anscombe and Wales now barring any slip-ups against Georgia in their final group game in a fortnight’s time will top the standings in Pool C and face a likely tie against Argentina, favourites to finish second in Pool D. 

Head-coach Gatland had chosen to recall a number of his first-choice XV for both his side’s and the group’s pivotal fixture. Three starters of the previous weekend’s Pool C 28-8 last-gasp bonus point victory against Portugal would remain in Louis Rees-Zammit, Toby Faletau and co-captain Morgan.  

Familiar faces of experienced regulars Biggar, George North and Liam Williams were recalled, with the same starting lineup that played in the tense 32-26 win over Fiji on matchday one selected. Meanwhile, Ospreys lock Adam Beard would turn out for his 50^th cap for his country. 

On a night when magic man Warren Gatland’s plans started to come to fruition, things couldn’t have started any better for Wales on a sweltering evening in the south of France. Straight from kick-off the desire and hunger in the Welsh side with a large roaring crowd behind them would shine through.  

Fly-half Biggar, leading from the front from the get-go earning an early penalty to unsettle the Wallabies pack setting the tone, pumping the ball up-field to gain territory deep within the opposition half. 

With the early impetus with the Welsh, Gatland’s side would strike first. Aaron Wainwright’s lineout perfectly won and spread to centre Tompkins; the Saracens player would show good hands to feed the bursting run of Morgan who would split the Wallaby defense before feeding Davies to clinically finish under the posts. 

Following the loss of Biggar, Australia would peg back the Welsh as they looked to gain a foothold in the game. Fly-half Ben Donaldson reducing the deficit after an infringement in the scrum, before reducing the scoreline to a point from a second infringement. 

The Welsh defense would be strong as Australia pushed for a try with a period of sustained pressure. Morgan’s bloody nose epitomising the spirit and desire as Wales would crucially hold firm as the Wallabies would be the downfall of their own making in the pivotal moment of the match. 

Donaldson deciding to kick to touch after Gareth Thomas had given away a penalty, before a miscommunication in the Australian lineout would lead to the following throw going long straight to Morgan to clear up field and ease the pressure. Inspired by the let-off, Wales with Anscombe would chip away at the scoreline and punish Aussies errors to lead by ten at the break.  

Eddie Jones’ side would lose experienced prop James Slipper to injury for the second-half and would struggle in the scrum as a result with Wales regularly forcing errors and pinning their rivals deep within their twenty-two.  

Then came the moment of magic from man-of-the-match Anscombe. The veteran exposing poor positioning amongst the Aussie backs to delightfully chip through to on-rushing centre Tompkins to score to the sound of deafening Welsh cheer. 

Wales would not look back as the Wallabies would be tamed. Coach Jones left a sollom figure in the technical area realising his side’s fate of exiting the tournament at the pool phase for the first time would become a reality. 

A high tackle from Samu Kerevi on Tomkins building a growing list of infringements to allow Wales to move the scoreboard on and further out of Australia’s reach. 

With a spate of replacements came no let-up as the Welsh would dominate further and would add a third try to a scoreline which was quickly turning into a rout. Captain Morgan gleefully ploughing his way over the line in the maul after Wales had won their own lineout ten-metres out. 

It would be the icing on the cake for coach Warren Gatland who would mastermind yet another heroic moment in his Welsh managerial tenure.  

Wales would end with a 34-point win, smashing their previous 26-point record victory margin against their Aussie counterparts to smithereens prompting former captain Sam Warburton to enthuse ‘We’re going to win the whole thing now’. One thing is for sure though is Wales will be lining up in the last eight now on Saturday 14^th October and nobody will relish facing them. 

Wales XV: H L Williams, Rees-Zammit (Dyer 71), North, Tompkins, Adams, Biggar (Anscombe 12), G Davies (T Williams 60), G Thomas (Dowachowski 67), Elias (Dee 67), Francis (H Thomas 67), Rowlands (Jenkins 71), Beard, Wainwright (Basham 71), Morgan (captain), Faletau. 

Australia XV: Kellaway (Vinivalu 60), Nawaqanitawase, Petaia, Kerevi, Koroibete, Donaldson (Gordon 53), McDermott (White 68), Bell (Schoupp 68), Porecki (captain) (Faessler 60), Slipper (Fa’amausili 41), Frost, Arnold (Phillip 66), Leota (McReight 50), Hopper, Valetini. 

[Lead image: Welsh Rugby Union]