High Drama in Gwent
Rodney Parade, Newport
A tense battle went on past 80 minutes before a decisive score settled the issue.
There were worrying signs for Wales from the start; tackles close to the breakdown weren’t effective and the Wallaroos profited. When the ball worked out to Maya Stewart on the right, she found her way past her opponent and Faitala Moleka converted. 0-7
They were moving the ball really fast, showing the areas Joanne Yapp had been working on since the one-sided defeat to the Irish.
It took the hosts ten minutes to respond. A tidy attacking line-out brought a penetrating drive, and Keira Bevan spotted a gap to go over. 7-7
Now the Aussie pack drove the Welsh off the ball and celebrated loudly. It was Ash Marsters who next exposed Wales’ weakness in basic defence. She was allowed to break straight from a ruck and storm over the line.
Then – not again! – we had the routine follow-up to a great score. The TMO spotted that Marsters was at least a millimetre in front of where she should have been. Try rubbed off.
Now Wales showed better form. Jenny Hesketh marauded down the left wing. As the ball came back, the Wallaroos offended and Bevan repeated her well-rehearsed trick of tapping; she reached to just short of the line. From there things returned to normal; the forwards punched at the line without real cohesion and a George-Cox link resulted in a knock-on.
Sara Cox was another referee to penalise a 9 for not using the ball fast enough. Against that, the attacking team at line-outs is still allowed to wander off 20 metres, enjoy a tea-party, then wander back before deigning to throw the ball in.
Fortunately for Cymru, the Wallaroos were just as capable of costly errors. Caitlyn Halse was slow completing a clearance kick; Carys Cox charged it down, but the ball ran just over the dead-ball line.
Right on half-time Wales spread the ball wide; once again it couldn’t reach the winger without a faulty connection. And once again Jaz Joyce hadn’t had a sniff of the ball. My view is: if the right-winger insists on wearing the 11 shirt, her team doesn’t deserve to win; but I’m old-fashioned.
Half-time 7-7
Consolations for the hosts were: more changes in the line-up and a following wind to help them..
But first they made an unforced error. Moleka’s kick-off was trapped with a foot. Molly Reardon, retreating, played it from in front, and Moleka added three points. 7-10
I didn’t enjoy seeing her nudge the ball forward before placing it on the tee even further forward. Referees rarely notice cheating of that sort.
Now the world tilted. A Welsh attack ended with a pass floating straight into touch, but a catch-and-drive on the opposite side worked like a charm. Try Reardon. 12-10.
Kaitlan Leaney may have been distinctly lucky to concede no more than a penalty for what looked like a no-arms contact shoulder to head.
Ioan Cunningham may have formed the same opinion as me about his pack: both Natalia John and Alisha Butchers joined the party early. With them the Welsh found a higher gear and Moleka failed to find touch with a penalty. After a sequence of challenging phases it was Butchers who scored. 19-10
The Aussies countered with a quite brilliant try. Miller again danced past tackles, Bella McKenzie inserted a wicked little chip, and Halse, all of 18-years-old, finished the move with power and determination. 19-17 and twelve minutes to go.
Cymru came back at once. Another accurate line-out saw Reardon crash over unmarked. 24-17
It took them 71 minutes to get Joyce into the game with half a chance. George carefully aimed a long cross-kick into her arms. As she was tackled, Joyce threw the ball forward.
The last five minutes were spent in overdrive, the Wallaroos unwilling to sustain a first loss to Cymru. Donna Rose conceded a penalty right under the posts, but Tabua Tuinakauvadra was across the line anyway. With 150 seconds left McKenzie held her nerve to convert from wide left. 24-24
With 90 seconds left the Aussies copped another offside penalty (not retreating). Bevan told George to put it in the corner. She obeyed. Cox disallowed a drive over, but George had an easier kick to the left corner. A series of thrusts grew quicker and quicker. As the clock struck 81 minutes, Kate Williams found the the door-key and was over.
Result: Cymru 31 Australia 24
Player of the Match: Keira Bevan (again!)
Attendance: 1,862
Teams:
Cymru: 15 Jenny Hesketh, 14 Jasmine Joyce, 13 Carys Cox, 12 Hannah Bluck, 11 Nel Metcalfe, 10 Lleucu George, 9 Keira Bevan (captain); 1 Gwenllian Pyrs, 2 Rosie Carr, 3 Sisilia Tuipulotu, 4 Abbie Fleming, 5 Georgia Evans, 6 Bryonie King, 7 Kate Williams, 8 Bethan Lewis
16 Molly Reardon, 17 Abbey Constable, 18 Donna Rose, 19 Natalia John, 20 Alisha Butchers, 21 Sian Jones, 22 Kayleigh Powell, 23 Courtney Keight
Australia: 15 Caitlyn Halse, 14 Maya Stewart, 13 Georgina Friedrichs, 12 Trilleen Pomare, 11 Desiree Miller; 10 Faitala Moleka, 9 Layne Morgan, 8 Tabua Tuinakauvadra, 7 Ash Marsters, 6 Siokapesi Palu, 5 Michaela Leonard (captain), 4 Kaitlan Leaney, 3 Eva Karpani, 2 Tania Naden, 1 Bridie O’Gorman
16 Tiarna Molloy, 17 lapeta Ngauamo, 18 Lydia Kavoa, 19 Atasi Lafai, 20 Lucy Dinnen, 21 Natalie Wright, 22 Bella McKenzie, 23 Lori Cramer
Referee: Sara Cox (RFU)
ARs: Holly Wood (RFU) and Chelsea Gillespie (SRU)
TMO: Andrew McMenemy (SRU)
The History Book
Both sides had been relegated from WXV1. Wales had not beaten Australia in six attempts. They meet again in just eight days time, the 28th.
Afterthoughts
In the first quarter we saw many of Wales’ weaknesses repeated. There must be concern about simple backs moves: an early one saw Carys Cox having to stoop low to take the ball cleanly. Why the imprecise alignments and the poor passes? Far too often, Welsh first tackles weren’t decisive.
The lack of size and power in the Welsh back-five failed to give them the consistent go-forward they needed. Cunningham plays Georgia Evans in the second row, though she’d certainly prefer to have the freedom of the back row to work in. This enabled the Wallaroos to recycle the ball fast and exploit gaps.
But the Welsh came back to record a vital win at the right moment. All is forgiven.
For the Wallaroos Marsters and Tuinakauvadra were very prominent up front, and Miller once more proved elusive on the wing.
Before their match at Twickenham, the Black Ferns had joined the Welsh squad for a training session.
