Wales marched into the quarter-finals at the World Cup with a crushing 40-6 victory over Australia on Sunday, leaving the twice-world champion Wallabies heading for a pool stage exit for the first time. Scrumhalf Gareth Davies, center Nick Tompkins, and flanker Jac Morgan all scored tries, with replacement flyhalf Gareth Anscombe banging over six penalties, a conversion, and a drop goal to give the Welsh a third win in their Pool C matches. The ruthless display was the heaviest defeat in Australia’s history against a side they had beaten just once in their last eight meetings. And it was a result that left even the bullish Jones struggling to conceal his disappointment.
Australia limped into this game at the bottom of their group, and that is precisely where they will remain until they find something to inspire them in their remaining two games. Their only hope now would be a miracle series of results which could see them qualify via a play-off. But they have a huge mountain to climb, and even then, progress is not guaranteed.
The match started with the Australians booed every time they appeared on the big screens, and they were soon down to 14 men after scrum-half Tate McDermott was sent off for a dangerous tackle on Jonathan Davies. But they managed to keep the deficit to a minimum, and their first try came after just 12 minutes when a deft chip from Morgan gave Davies the chance to chase and score under the posts.
A superb Josh Adams highball set up the second with a deft Anscombe chip over the top of the defense for Tompkins to race in and score. The Wallabies tried to fight back, with winger Pone Fa’amausili making a try from a driving maul, but they could not find any resistance as Anscombe punished them in the scrum and open play. Two more Anscombe penalties and a 70th-minute drop goal that felt like rubbing salt into gaping wounds sealed the win.
This performance could have easily ended in a thrashing, which means that Wales will go into the last eight as one of only three sides to win all their matches at this World Cup. Wales have never done that before, and it is a remarkable turnaround in fortunes for Gatland and his players. They looked a shadow of their former selves just a few months ago, but the brutal training camps have helped them to find a cohesive unit that has shocked everyone in Lyon. The other surprise package has been England, who have hammered Fiji and Portugal and look well on the way to a shock semi-final against France.
