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The Wallabies have opened their grand slam tour of the UK and Ireland with a comfortable 36-5 win over English Premiership battlers Gloucester.
Quade Cooper clearly outpointed 34-year-old former All Black Carlos Spencer in an intriguing five-eighth duel to set up the second-string Wallabies’ victory in front of a sellout Kingsholm crowd of some 16,500 ardent supporters.
Cooper had a hand or boot in all five of Australia’s tries, scoring the last one himself, and also landed five goals from six attempts for a 16-point personal haul.
With a testing preparation, highlighted by an 11-hour flight from Tokyo to London on Sunday and then a three-hour bus trip to the south-west of England for Tuesday night’s match, the Wallabies put in a mixed and, at times, haphazard performance.
As it was in Australia’s Bledisloe Cup loss to New Zealand on Saturday, the Wallabies’s dysfunctional lineout was again a major cause for concern, while no player really commanded a starting berth for Saturday’s Twickenham Test against England.
Gloucester were hardly a major scalp, the understrength side struggling in third-last position in the English Premiership with just two wins from nine games this season.
But a win’s a win and the mid-week fixture at least presented Wallabies coach Robbie Deans with an opportunity to blood some new talent.
Fullback Kurtley Beale, centre Tyrone Smith, flanker Mitchell Chapman, prop Salesi Ma’afu all made their debuts for the Wallabies.
The Wallabies opened the scoring in bizarre fashion in the fifth minute when Cooper was credited with a penalty goal that seemingly everyone at the ground bar the two touch judges thought he had missed.
There was no doubt about Cooper’s crossfield kick eight minutes later that landed flush in the arms of Ryan Cross, who strolled over untouched for the first try of the game.
The centre’s five-pointer was a fitting reward for Cross’s dedicated father Paul, who, at the cost of hundreds of pounds, took a two-hour cab ride from London to the south-west of England to watch his son play.
Cooper’s conversion gave the Wallabies a 10-0 lead before Spencer replied with his own crossfield kick in the 25th minute for Gloucester’s only try, scored by winger Freddie Burns.
Smith finished off Australia’s second try on the half hour after a scrum win and well-executed set play featuring some nice combination from Cooper and Cross.
Cooper’s conversion gave the Wallabies a 17-5 halftime advantage.
The Wallabies needed 25 minutes to add their first of the second half, but finished with a flurry with a tryscoring double to winger Drew Mitchell before Cooper fittingly had the final say with the last try in the 79th minute.
The match was played 101 years after the Gloucester club hosted Australia’s first-ever travelling national rugby team – initially dubbed the “Rabbits” before finishing the tour as the Wallabies.
Australia won that historic encounter 16-0 before the trailblazing Wallabies further etched their names into Australian sporting folklore by winning, during the tour, the Olympic gold medal for rugby at the 1908 London Games.
WALLABIES 36 (Drew Mitchell 2, Quade Cooper, Ryan Cross, Tyrone Smith tries; Quade Cooper 5 cons, 1 pen) bt GLOUCESTER 5 (Freddie Burns try) at Kingsholm, Gloucester. Crowd: about 16,500. Referee: Andrew Small (Nzl).
Join The Roar rugby editor Christy Doran, former Wallaby Matt Toomua and a cast of regular and special guests as they look at the biggest issues in the game on The Roar Rugby Podcast. If you’re looking for great odds on the next game check out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.