Post Match thoughts...? Wales 18-21 Australia...! Well done both teams. A well earned win for the Aussies..!

First topic message reminder :

A Welsh World Cup campaign that held so much promise a week ago ended in disappointment as Australia won the third-place play-off.

A try and drop-goal from Berrick Barnes and eight points from the boot of James O'Connor left Wales with fourth place despite a try from Shane Williams in possibly his last Test appearance.

In an error-ridden contest short on quality and atmosphere, Wales failed to replicate their devastating attacking form of earlier in the tournament.

A succession of handling errors gifted the Wallabies the initiative, and Leigh Halfpenny's try in the 83rd minute came too late to deny Robbie Deans' men.

While the result gives Australia revenge for Wales' victory in the corresponding game in the inaugural World Cup 24 years ago, a serious knee injury to fly-half Quade Cooper left their celebrations muted.

13. J Davies or SC Williams?

just wondering?

Well i have said my bit, I enjoyed the game and feel that Wales have done themselves very proud and have the core for a very good team for the next few years.

Unfortunately this thread will probably be ruined by wums laughing at Wales so i will this to them.

Why would people laugh at them, they were the form team playing some of the best rugby seen at the RWC this year.

Well done Wales for having a great tournament. Don't listen to the gloom merchants or WUM's, 4th place is a fine achievement no matter what your win/loss ratio is or who you have beaten.

Wales have played some fantastic rugby with a young side and with a bit more composure or luck could have been in the final.

The failure to put away SA or France is something to work on. Wales need to work on their composure and descision making in terms of setting up drop goal opportunities because they made a pigs ear of at least 3 in this competition and that more than anything else is why they are not in the final.

A win over SH still remains elusive but they just have to keep plugging away and they will get there.

Overall though there is plenty of positives and can look forward to the 6N with a lot of optimism.

AsLongAsBut100ofUs wrote:

eirebilly wrote:Well i dont know about the rest of you all but i really enjoyed that match. Wales can certainly walk away with their heads held high and be proud of all that the have achieved this world cup.

Thanks alos to the usually good Wales fans on here, the banter has been great

+1 (from another neutral)

I k the welsh fans do deserve applauding but the biggest pride I feel is for the impact our team has made on the many neutrals. Their support has been the bonus we could only have dreamed of.

Thank all of you. I hope we continue to impress from here onwards...!


A great world cup...

Bring on the finale

roddersm wrote: Well done Wales for having a great tournament. Don't listen to the gloom merchants or WUM's, 4th place is a fine achievement no matter what your win/loss ratio is or who you have beaten.

Wales have played some fantastic rugby with a young side and with a bit more composure or luck could have been in the final.

The failure to put away SA or France is something to work on. Wales need to work on their composure and descision making in terms of setting up drop goal opportunities because they made a pigs ear of at least 3 in this competition and that more than anything else is why they are not in the final.

A win over SH still remains elusive but they just have to keep plugging away and they will get there.

Overall though there is plenty of positives and can look forward to the 6N with a lot of optimism.

Before the RWC Wales looked like a middling team with no real direction. Afterwards, there is hope and a seemingly bright future. That is huge.

I'm immensely proud of the boys. Many predicted we woudn't make it out of our group, and I was very nervous about our prospects. But, from the kickoff against South Africa we played really well.

I then expected to go out in a 1/4 final against Oz, but then we got Ireland and we played extremely well to make the semi.

So, to play for an hour with 14 men against France and to just miss out on the final by a short penalty kick, well that was far beyond my expectations.

They'll be dissapointed with today. Aus played much better and deserved the win, but the fightback at the end will give them confidence going forward. And, we have a chance for revenge in December!

Well done boys, for a change you've come back from a world cup with reputations enhanced.

doctor_grey wrote:Before the RWC Wales looked like a middling team with no real direction. .

Now they look like a middling team with one direction right dopwn the blindside.

Everyone has an off game once in a while, even the All Blacks. This was Wales' first off game in 8. Give them a break.

The challenge for Wales now is not to get swept away in the hype and start believing their own press. That will be difficult when they return to Wales.

They did a lot of things well and other things not so well and they need to keep their feet on the ground and be realistic of were they are at.

They need to play like they did against Ireland every week to compete with the top sides and realise that if they drop that level then there is a fair chance they will lose.

They are also heavily relient on a few key individuals like Priestland and Adam Jones and didn't look the same side without them. Roberts too is central to everything.

They will be a marked team in the 6N now and they will really have to keep working harder and harder to build on this RWC.

After tipping Aus to win by 4+ I could sense my lunch was going to get eaten there at the end after 7000 phases. Congratulation Wales on a great tournament, you played some fantastic rugby at times. To our boys, well it was a pretty ordinary tournament despite all the expectations. We played about as badly as a team could hope to play and still managed third. The next few years looks promising if we could all just stop getting injured for 5 minutes.

The injuries for us not good, but more important is can we get some cover!! We need a 2nd pack, a competitive pack, cause we have one ok set of forwards but if any gets injured we're stuffed.

The backs not too concerned, there's cover for most positions, well cept scrum half.

Full Credit wrote:After tipping Aus to win by 4+ I could sense my lunch was going to get eaten there at the end after 7000 phases. Congratulation Wales on a great tournament, you played some fantastic rugby at times. To our boys, well it was a pretty ordinary tournament despite all the expectations. We played about as badly as a team could hope to play and still managed third. The next few years looks promising if we could all just stop getting injured for 5 minutes.

+1, Full, looks like a very bright future for Aus

OzT wrote:The injuries for us not good, but more important is can we get some cover!! We need a 2nd pack, a competitive pack, cause we have one ok set of forwards but if any gets injured we're stuffed.

The backs not too concerned, there's cover for most positions, well cept scrum half.

Burgess seems ok, OzT?

What about Phipps, he looked good at Super XV level this season?

All respect to the Aus front row - the welsh front row looked liked they'd played a game too far.

Final score in the thread title?

Davie wrote:Final score in the thread title?

Isn't that an automatic lifetime ban?

Should be

Did walesworldcup pick up a one day ban?

Hmmm never really rated Burgess, LongAs. When Greagan was around he only had limited game time but looked slow and clueless, after Greagan he still looked slow and clueless. Steady Super 15 player but not international class, imho

But he's 150% better than all the other ones we've tried, like Sam Cordingly, Matt Giteau or Chris Whitaker (3)

Griff wrote:Well done boys, for a change you've come back from a world cup with reputations enhanced.

Well said, Griff. Better to have missed out on getting to the final than not getting anywhere near it.

But this has to be the beginning, not the end. As others have said, the last thing we need to do is start believing the hype because we're a long way from the finished article. We're still losing games we should win. But for the first time in a long time, we have the foundations in place and the makings of a quality international side. Let's not waste the chance to build on it.

On this game alone Wales can be criticised but on the campaign overall the team deserves a resounding congratulations. Remember that during the last AI only a year ago another group-stage exit didn't look off the cards. No matter who you are, you've given 100% if you've played for Wales this tournament and nothing more can be asked.

Hook continues his woeful streak, Phillips and the back row continue to impress and the side that wanted it more got it today.

Who does Ryan Jones think he is? He had no right turning up and handing in a world class display, the rascal! I've been his critic in the past but today was his finest game for Wales in years, now if he was playing like that all the time he'd be a contender for a starting berth on a regular basis.

Wales need to start working on all the minutiae that makes a good team great.

Lineouts need to improve.

Our turnovers need to be reduced

Our protection of the scrum half when going for a kick (we let Oz break through a few times today)

Our positioning when going for drop goals (and again being street wise to stop runners charging down)

Penalty kicks. never been a weakness before but glaringly obvious after the last 2 games.

Supporting the player with the ball



Lots and lots of little things that would make everything else so much easier.

Good teams do all these things effortlessly and without thought. Ireland do it, they don't make many mistakes. And if you do that then you are half way there.

Wales definitely missed the foraging of Warburton and his combative openside play to cope with Pocock, they lacked direction from flyhalf with either Hook or Jones.

Many players on both sides looked very tired. Its been a long tournament, especially if you played your last 63 minutes one man down.

Not to discredit what was a superb Aussie Back line, Berwick Barnes made a huge difference at ten and twelve, taking his try very well.

Tough call for man of the match between Barnes or the outstandingly talented James O'Connor.