Wales’s Rugby World Cup campaign ultimately ended in massive disappointment, a bronze medal playoff loss to Australia capping a tournament in which several younger players starred.
Warren Gatland’s team opened their campaign with a 17-16 Pool D loss to 2007 champions South Africa and then ground out a 17-10 win over Samoa before racking up cricket scores against Namibia (81-7) and Fiji (66-0).
Old Six Nations foes Ireland lay in wait for them in the quarter-finals but Wales produced their best 80 minutes of rugby to seal a 22-10 victory to advance to the last four for the first time since the inaugural 1987 World Cup.
However, the semi-final clash against France did not go to plan when captain Sam Warburton was red carded after just 19 minutes for a dangerous tip tackle on French wing Vincent Clerc, whose side went on to record a 9-8 win.
Friday’s 21-18 loss to the Wallabies left Wales with a World Cup record of four victories and three losses, two of which came against Tri Nations teams.
“At the end of the day, we haven’t beaten a southern hemisphere team down here. It’s massively frustrating,” admitted centre Jamie Roberts.
Indeed, in Wales’ 45 Tests against Tri Nations countries since the advent of professionalism after the 1995 World Cup, they’ve managed just one win over South Africa (1999), two against Australia (2005, 2008), and tasted nothing but defeat against New Zealand.
But Gatland insisted that there were positives to take out of a tournament, where youngsters such as Warburton, fellow flanker Dan Lydiate, flyhalf Rhys Priestland, No.8 Toby Faletau, teenage winger George North and fullback Leigh Halfpenny have shone and should all be better for the experience come the 2015 World Cup.
“The youngsters would have learnt and will definitely be stronger for these experiences,” the New Zealander said of them playing seven Tests in seven weeks.
Lock Bradley Davies pinpointed Warburton and Priestland as key players in the coming years for a Wales team where star winger Shane Williams is set to bow out.
“Sam has done an outstanding job as captain,” Davies said. “Toby Faletau has been outstanding and Dan Lydiate and Jonathan Davies have shown lots of courage.
“I’d say the best has been Rhys Priestland. The way he stepped up has been a revelation. He was thrown in the deep end against England (in pre-tournament warm-ups) and has shown he has a bright future.”
“Before we came out here we talked about going to New Zealand and earning respect. They are quite a savvy nation and only respect you when you have done it. We would have like to have done better, but that is rugby.”
Jonathan Davies, who has benefited from playing alongside Roberts in midfield, said the future for Wales could only be good.
“A lot of the boys gained a lot of experience. A lot of them only made their debuts this year and have 10 or 12 caps. We have to build on that for the future,” Davies said.
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.
Joe Schmidt says he wants Carter Gordon to stay in Australian rugby, but the new Wallabies coach won’t shed tears if he decides to…
It's another big week of trans-Tasman rivalry with four Aussie teams going up against Kiwi opponents and the Brumbies hosting the Fijian Drua. See…
Darren Coleman is set to continue his back three changes, with Max Jorgensen to miss the Waratahs’ tricky assignment at the Cake Tin in…
Australian rugby has many problems - financial crisis, ever-shrinking audiences, shortage of coaching expertise, Greg Martin, etc etc. But one problem which I have…
The final result was 4-1 for the Kiwi sides but some of the results could easily have been different with a bit more maturity from the Aussies.
Eight months after sensationally being taken to France by Eddie Jones as the Wallabies’ specialist fly-half for their World Cup campaign, Carter Gordon could…
