Wales need long-term strategy

Australia 56 Wales 25

There is precious little Wales can do to enhance their bleak short-term prospects for the remainder of their Australian tour. The comprehensive Wallaby victory under the Ballymore Park floodlights here on Saturday night suggest it is going to get harder rather than easier before the tour climaxes in the second Test in Sydney in 12 days' time.

But the real damage will be done if Wales adopt a deja vu attitude and fly home two weeks today with another disastrous tour Down Under being greeted with nothing more than another shrug of acceptant official shoulders.

The Wallabies are playing a different ball game from Wales with the emphasis all on pace and explosive power - pointing to the Super 12 series as being their catalyst. Wales' tour manager, Terry Cobner, is in no doubt that if there is not a major overhaul of the Welsh domestic structure to introduce a mirror image tournament then "the gulf between north and south will get greater, and we will have no one to blame but ourselves.

"Our players were put under pressure they are not used to, I felt sorry for them," he said. "They are disadvantaged, put on a playing field that isn't level because our system does not challenge them enough."

There were certainly shades of 1991 - when Welsh rugby's stock sank to an undignified low - on Saturday night as the Wallabies scored with almost indecent haste, the centre Joe Roff crossing after just 54 seconds for the first of their seven tries.

But this time there was no capitulation. Although totally outgunned, Wales still managed to emerge with credit for their battling spirit. "They are a lot better than in '91, I can see a big improvement," John Eales, the Wallaby captain, said.

After failing to score a try in their last three meetings with the Aussies, Wales not only ended that 306-minute famine but actually managed to breach the home defence three times in a nine-minutes spell.

Full-back Wayne Proctor, courtesy of a charged down clearance, had the distinction of being the first since Adrian Hadley in the 1987 World Cup to force the Wallabies to face a Welsh conversion kick and stand-off Neil Jenkins duly obliged with a beauty from the touchline to go with his two first-half penalty goals.

However, the sombre bottom line was that Australia were already 36 points clear, their "impact" forwards punching huge holes in the Welsh defence and the backs running at finely-tuned angles, taking the ball at pace from deep.

Nevertheless, scrum-half Robert Howley, epitomising the never-say-die attitude, was at the heart of the other two Welsh tries. His clever pass put the flanker Hemi Taylor around the blindside of a scrum and then a searing Howley break ended with lock Gareth Llewellyn plunging over.

The Wallabies promise to be an even more potent force by the second Test but for Wales the really significant work will only begin when Cobner gets home and tries to instigate Wales getting their domestic act together. That is the real long term challenge.

Australia: Tries J Roff, M Caputo, D Wilson, D Manu, P Howard, A Murdoch, G Morgan; Conversions M Burke 6; Penalties M Burke 3. Wales: Tries W Proctor, H Taylor, G Llewellyn; Conversions N Jenkins 2; Penalties N Jenkins 2.

AUSTRALIA: M Burke; D Campese, J Roff, T Horan, A Murdoch; P Howard, G Gregan; R Harry, M Caputo, E McKenzie, J Eales (capt), G Morgan, O Finegan, D Manu, D Wilson. Replacement: M Brial for D Manu, 60.

WALES: W Proctor; I Evans (both Llanelli), L Davies (Neath), N Davies (Llanelli), G Thomas; N Jenkins (both Pontypridd), R Howley (Bridgend); C Loader (Swansea), J Humphreys (Cardiff, capt), J Davies (Neath), G Llewellyn (Harlequins), D Jones, H Taylor (both Cardiff), S Williams (Neath), G Jones (Llanelli). Replacements: L Mustoe (Cardiff) for J Davies, 69; M Voyle (Newport) for D Jones, 43-46 and for G Jones, 9-20.

Referee: G Wahlstrom (New Zealand).