The Wallaroos have suffered another international defeat on their British Isles tour, but only after a late, late try from Wales sank them 31-24 at Newport’s Rodney Parade.
Australia’s rugby women had been coming a humbling defeat at Ireland in Belfast at the weekend, but they were far sharper on Friday night (Saturday AEST) as they matched the home side in a dramatic contest.
But with the game tied at 24-24, Kate Williams crashed over from close range with the last attack of the night to give the hosts a famous victory, their first in seven attempts over Australia.
“This week we definitely couldn’t fault the girls’ work rate and energy, they were working really hard for one another and the intent was there,” Wallaroos coach Jo Yapp said.
“I’m really proud from that perspective, but I think we just showed at times we have just got a few things to learn.
“We need to be a bit more rugby smart in certain areas of the game, I think that’s where we let ourselves down tonight.
“We showed that when we executed what we wanted to, we made really good yards against them so we need to continue to build on that and cut out some of the errors.”
Captain Michaela Leonard also conceded her side may have been their own worst enemies with their superior number of line breaks as they constantly looked dangerous on the attack, but it ended up counting for nothing.
“We take that one on our chest there,” said Leonard, after the five-tries-to-three reverse.
“Our discipline and ability to hold onto the ball and maintain possession really let us down.”
In a closely-fought first half, Maya Stewart, the Wallaroos’ flying winger scoring for the second international in a row, and Welsh captain Keira Bevan had both gone over for tries.
Australia had a fine solo effort from Ashley Marsters then ruled out after replays showed the hooker had been in front of the ball at the breakdown, meaning the sides went in at halftime locked at 7-7.
After the break, Wales’ Molly Reardon then scored twice, either side of a landmark try for Australia’s teenage fullback Caitlyn Halse.
Alisha Joyce-Butchers looked to have put the match beyond Australia with her try, but powerful No.8 Tabua Tuinakauvadra ploughed over the whitewash for the visitors.
When Arabella McKenzie then converted nervelessly with three minutes remaining, it looked as if the Wallaroos would get at least a hard-earned draw.
But Wales were having none of it, going for the jugular with one last series of pick-and-gos, eventually grabbing their historic win with the clock in the red when Williams piled over much to the joy of the home crowd.
“I was really proud in the way we stayed in the fight, credit to Australia, a great team, scored some nice tries, but we never lost faith,” Wales coach Ioan Cunningham said.
“We stuck to our systems and had that calmness as well, we’ve shown a bit of maturity in our team coming off the Six Nations to get that win.
“I thought the lineout went well, we got lots of gain line off that. I thought we grew in the game defensively, which is something we’ve focussed on over the last two weeks, building that red wall.
“And then that composure and patience which we showed in the second-half when we were close to the try line, we did complete those scores, those are pleasing points for us to build on when we play them next week.”
The Australians will get a quick shot at revenge in eight days time when the teams meet again in their WXV2 tournament opener in Cape Town, and Leonard promises they will have learned from the heartbreak.
“Having the opportunity to go up against Wales again next week is really exciting because there’s plenty of things that we did well out there,” said the skipper.
