Wallabies overwhelm Wales 32-8 to begin grand slam tour

Wales went into battle without four British and Irish Lions Test players – Sam Warburton, Alun Wyn Jones, Taulupe Faletau and Jonathan Davies – with centre Davies a late withdrawal due to a tight hamstring, which meant his fellow Scarlets midfielder Williams starting.

“One of the things we learnt from the summer (in New Zealand) and the way the ga me is going in general, everyone needs to be comfortable on the ball”.

Hansen said later that Cheika needed to be bigger than to take a newspaper’s barb to heart, and said it was wrong to suggest the All Blacks could dictate what the media did. “Over a year ago we were in a World Cup final but then didn’t get a win in our next five games after that”. “But that’s the nature of the seasons”. We know we’ve got to be on the top of our game to get a result against them, and Saturday will be no different.

Halfpenny tore ligaments in his right knee in September 2015, in Wales’ last warmup match for the Rugby World Cup, and didn’t return to action until June.

Gethin Jenkins, who will captain Wales for the seventh time, has played in 10 of the 11 losses; overall his record in the fixture is a chastening 12 defeats and one draw from 14 meetings dating back to 2003.

This 32-8 defeat could have…

“We have to take that into next week because we have to keep on improving. Looking at the next game it’s going to be a very, very hard match; a very hard opponent to beat up in Murrayfield”.

Mumm’s height will be missed but Cheika said Brumbies back-rower Pocock had other dynamics that would be good for the team.

Ella believed the recent “Clown Gate” kerfuffle was blown out of proportion but added Cheika needs to be warned about his public outbursts and ARU power brokers don’t have the courage to step in.

Nonetheless, Pocock was not pleased when he was benched at half-time. “I know what he can do”, Pocock said. “It’s not always nice”.

“If you look at the contact area. they were clearing rucks very effectively which made the speed of ball pretty quick”.

Australia are a team rejuvenating and focusing on the future, not the past, Wallabies skipper Stephen Moore insisted Friday.

Bernard Foley dives over to score his team’s fourth try.

“They’re a team that if you’re ill-disciplined and if you knock off at set piece, they’ll really hurt you”. “I’m just doing as I’m told”, Genia said. The guys that hadn’t played here before really did well. A lot of us have been there before.

“I thought they all handled it really which is pleasing”.

The Wallabies play Scotland, France, Ireland, and England on successive Saturdays.

Tevita Kuridrani is tackled by Wales Ken Owens and Bradley Davies.

The first – whether Australia’s star of the Rugby Championships should be rushed straight back into a winning side – will be answered early in the week before the Murrayfield Test with Scotland on Saturday (kickoff at 1.30am AEDT on Sunday). You want to make the people in the nation as proud as possible. If we don’t, it will be a long day at the office.