Aussies cruising at the break in Cardiff

Wales 3 Australia 25

Tries from full-back Chris Latham and centres Matt Giteau and Stirling Mortlock gave Australia a commanding 25-3 half-time lead in their crucial Pool B match against Wales.

Wales were forced to re-shuffle their back division after losing Sonny Parker and captain Gareth Thomas to injury inside the first 21 minutes.

Australian fans looked to match the home support among the 74,500 crowd and they were the first to cheer when Wales prop Gethin Jenkins was punished for going off his feet and captain Stirling Mortlock put his side ahead after 90 seconds with a penalty.

It was then Wales’ turn to dominate and Barnes showed signs of nerves with a poor clearance kick, while Mitchell put his side under pressure when he twice slipped on the lush surface to concede a line-out deep inside the Australian half.

Stephen Jones levelled the scores after six minutes after the Wallabies were penalised for pulling down a maul and Wales demonstrated their intent by twice getting winger Shane Williams involved in the early action.

A steal in the line-out by Ian Gough enabled the Welsh to pile on the pressure and Jones had a chance to put his side in front after 12 minutes when the Australians forwards went off their feet but he pushed his second kick at goal wide of the mark.

The first try went to Australia, however, when Barnes sliced between Adam Jones and Dwayne Peel and sent the supporting Matt Giteau over between the posts.

Barnes appeared to be tackled late by Thomas but he got to his feet after treatment, in time to watch Mortlock add the conversion to make it 10-3.

In a tough and physical opening, Wales lost Charvis for a spell in the blood bin and centre Sonny Parker was carried off on a stretcher midway through the first half after hurting his knee in an innocuous tackle.

Kevin Morgan came on to replace him, with Thomas switching to the threequarters but the captain also went off on 21 minutes with a damaged shoulder, the result of a collision with Mortlock.

That meant the introduction of James Hook rather earlier than Jenkins had planned, the fly-half slotting in at inside centre, and the injuries appeared to have a destabilising effect on the Welsh.

With the Wallabies in the ascendancy, Barnes increased their lead to 13-3 with a 40-metre drop goal before Mortlock was wide with a penalty from a similar distance.

Jones then missed his second kick at goal after flanker George Smith had been penalised for offside and, although Wales continued to look dangerous on the counter-attack, they were stung by two tries in a six-minute spell before the break.

Winger Mark Jones lost the ball in Giteau’s crunching tackle and prop Matt Dunning seized on possession to send George Gregan racing down the touchline. His kick ahead bounced kindly for Mortlock, who touched down for the 25th try of his Test career.

The Welsh had barely recovered from that shock when full-back Chris Latham finished off a sweeping move, taking Mitchell’s inside ball after Giteau had produced a telling cut-out pass. Mortlock kicked his third goal from attempts to stretch his side’s lead to 22 points.