Wales turned around a 20-6 deficit to trail 20-19 at one stage, but ultimately it was the Wallabies that claimed a fairly comfortable 27-19 victory at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane on Saturday. The two sides meet again in Melbourne for the second test.
Will Genia stamped his authority on the game with one of the better halfback performances you’re likely to see, including a brilliant solo effort. He controlled maters from the base with a high tempo performance, something Wales are aiming to prevent in the next two Tests.
“If they put all their focus on Will, it will tighten their line and make it easier for us to run into holes,” said his Reds teammate Anthony Faingaa, who also praised wing Digby Ioane, who carried the ball 13 times and helped Genia dummy the Welsh defence for his try.
“If Digby doesn’t make that run, Will doesn’t score that try,” he said.
Nathan Sharpe, having played 11 times against Wales, says that they will come back stronger, and should not be taken lightly. “This is the best Welsh team I’ve ever played against,” he said.
“We’re expecting big things from them again this weekend and they will have learned a lot from Saturday and we expect them to try to remedy that. The game will have a completely different focus and a completely different energy about it.
Wales will have the services of Melbourne Rebels forward Gareth Delve at their disposal as he was called up after number eight Toby Faletau broke his hand. He’ll play in the game against the Brumbies tomorrow, and aim to get a Test call up for Saturday.
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