Wales’s crushing 32-8 defeat was their 12th in succession against Australia and the performance among their worstA sharp start to the season, this, and a defeat that stung like the autumn weather. Australia had lost seven of the 10 games they had played this season, three to England, three to New Zealand, another to South Africa. There was a thought that they were weaker than they had been in a while but the Wallabies poured cold water all over it. They have now won their last 12 Tests against Wales, a run started way back in 2008. It already felt like Wales had lost to them in pretty much every which way a team can; undone by penalties, drop goals,...
Wales have lost their past 11 matches against Australia and while the Wallabies are not as strong as a year ago, the hosts must keep their heads in closing stagesAustralia’s matches against Wales have come to be a victory of mind over matter. No matter how much time the Wallabies spend on the back foot, trying to disengage from a scrum or checking their body parts after a rampaging run by Jamie Roberts or George North, they keep their heads so that when a game nears its end, with lungs bursting and legs aching, they have the wherewithal to fashion the decisive play.The Wallabies have snatched victory at the last over Wales too often for it to be a coincidence....
One year on from the Rugby World Cup, Robert Kitson ranks the top tier sides, with the All Blacks showing no sign of losing their dominanceEighteen wins on the spin and counting. The All Blacks will not stay unbeaten forever but sometimes it feels that way. Over the next month they will face Ireland (twice), Italy and France and, barring accidents, it should be 22 straight victories by the time they fly home. The head coach, Steve Hansen, and his lieutenants deserve credit for the impressive manner in which the team has refocused and developed since retaining the Webb Ellis Cup last year. Who said Dan Carter, Richie McCaw, Ma’a Nonu et al were irreplaceable? In the shape of Aaron...
New Zealand are in imperious form but the gap between the northern and southern hemisphere teams, All Blacks excepting, may not be as great as beforeNovember is a month when the clocks have just gone back and darkness descends on the home unions in the form of the major southern hemisphere nations. This year there is some light to tickle the green shoots of hope: the All Blacks are not venturing into Britain, the Wallabies are wobbling and the Boks have lost their spring.Australia start their five-match tour in Cardiff on Saturday5 November. Given the combustibility of their head coach, Michael Cheika, in recent months – he raged in his media conference after the Auckland defeat to New Zealand last...