Skip to main content
  • E-mail
  • Save
  • Print

Australia see off battling Wales

  • Story Highlights
  • Australia beat Wales 32-20 in Cardiff in crucial World Cup game
  • Wallabies led 25-3 at half-time before Wales staged second half recovery
  • Ireland struggle to beat Georgia 14-10 in Group D match
  • Next Article in World Sport »
Decrease font Decrease font
Enlarge font Enlarge font

CARDIFF, Wales -- Australia shrugged off the loss of injured playmaker Stephen Larkham to withstand a second half rally by Wales and wrap up a 32-20 victory at the Millenium Stadium.

art.larkham.gi.jpg

Stephen Larkham was ruled out of the Pool B clash won 32-20 by his side.

Larkham was ruled out on the morning of the match after being injured in training on Friday, but he was hardly missed as the Wallabies silenced the home crowd to take a 25-3 half-time lead with tries from Matt Giteau, Stirling Mortlock and Chris Latham.

Wales were given a measure of hope as Jonathan Thomas went over for an early second half try after a spell of concerted home pressure. It was converted by James Hook who followed up with a penalty to cut the Australian lead to 12 points.

But the comeback was cruelly cut short as fly-half Stephen Jones made a clumsy handling error to leave man-of-the-match Latham in the clear to touch down for a converted try.

Wales at least finished with a flourish after Australian winger Drew Mitchell was sin-binned and their brilliant attacking rugby brought a late consolation try for Shane Williams.

Victory gives Australia the prospect of a likely quarterfinal against under-performing champions England and Latham is confident of the outcome:

"We're just warming up in the this tournament," he said

Home fly-half Jones bemoaned their sorry first half performance. "We weren't too clever in the first half, but there were a lot of errors and we weren't efficient."

They will also have concerns about captain Gareth Thomas who was given a strong talking-to from referee Steve Walsh for taking out Larkham's replacement Berrick Barnes late and off the ball as he set up Giteau for the first try.

He escaped immediate censure but the citing officer may have a different view.

In Saturday's late match, Ireland gave another poor performance as they struggled to beat minnows Georgia 14-10 in a Group D match.

Georgia led 10-7 in the second half until a Girvan Dempsey try, converted by Ronan O'Gara spared Irish blushes. E-mail to a friend E-mail to a friend

All About Stephen Larkham

  • E-mail
  • Save
  • Print