Wales hold off Australia to edge Rugby World Cup thriller

TOKYO, AFP: Six Nations champions Wales took a massive step towards topping Pool D with a thrilling 29-25 victory over valiant Australia in the Rugby World Cup on Sunday.

The Welsh were 23-8 ahead at half-time but they had to withstand a furious second-half onslaught when Australia fought back to within a point late in the game.

Wales, 43-14 winners over Georgia in their opener, will now be confident of finishing their pool unbeaten, with their next opponents Fiji in Oita on 9 October before taking on Uruguay in Kumamoto four days later.

“Relief at the moment,” said Wales coach Warren Gatland, when asked what he was feeling after the match. “Tough second half but the boys pulled through.

“It was a tough Test match. Very pleased with the first half. We didn’t have a lot of ball in the second half and Australia kept coming at us and putting us under a huge amount of pressure. But we were able to hold on thankfully.” Australia captain Michael Hooper said the game “came down to the wire”.

“Some big calls there. Some went our way, some didn’t,” said Hooper.

“We’ve got to pick ourselves back up. We’ll review it. Probably right now recovery’s key. We’ve got a six day turnaround. This sort of format, competition, you’ve got to move on pretty quick.” 

An electric game full of enterprising, interlinking play from both sides on a balmy late afternoon in the Japanese capital made for a marvellous spectacle of running rugby.

The 47,885-strong crowd had barely taken their seats after the anthems when Wales were on the scoreboard.