Wales 12 Australia 33: JONATHAN THOMAS surveyed the wreckage of Wales' worst home defeat for two years and admitted: "We are embarrassed." Red shirts were matched by red faces as Australia waltzed away with a hopelessly one-sided encounter in Cardiff on Saturday.
The 33-12 scoreline and a 4-0 try count hardly did justice to Australia’s dominance. It could, and probably should, have been even worse for a Welsh side smashed in the scrums, outclassed in attack and battered into submission by an unforgiving Wallabies defence.
Boos rang around the Millennium Stadium as a dejected, demoralised Wales outfit trooped off. “As a group of players we are embarrassed to put on a performance like that,” said Ospreys flanker Thomas.
And the scars were physical as well as mental, with three of Wales’ 2009 Lions – Shane Williams, Matthew Rees and Leigh Halfpenny – forced off injured inside the first 30 minutes.
Australia posted three tries during 16 first-half minutes – centre Digby Ioane, lock James Horwill and flanker David Pocock touching down.
WALES: J Hook, L Halfpenny, J Roberts, J Davies, S Williams; S Jones, D Peel;, G Jenkins (capt), M Rees, P James, A Jones, L Charteris, D Lydiate, M Williams, A Powell. Replacements: A Bishop for Halfpenny (28 mins), T James for S Williams (5 mins), M Roberts for Peel (72 mins), H Bennett for Rees (30 mins), D Jones for P James (48 mins), J Thomas for Charteris (49 mins), S Warburton for Lydiate (48 mins).
AUSTRALIA: A Ashley-Cooper; P Hynes, D Ioane, Q Cooper, D Mitchell; M Giteau, W Genia, B Robinson, S Moore, B Alexander, J Horwill , D Mumm, R Elsom (capt), D Pocock, W Palu. Replacements: J OConnor for Hynes (64 mins), K Beale (NSW Waratahs) for Mitchell (70), L Burgess for Genia (79 mins), T Polota-Nau for Moore (55 mins), M Dunning for Alexander (73 mins), G Smith for Pocock (40 mins), M Chisholm for Palu (70 mins).
Referee: W Barnes(RFU).
