Wallabies wipe out woeful Wales
It is now 12 wins in a row for Australia over Wales after an easy 32-8 win in Cardiff.
International Rugby: Wales 8-32 Australia
Wales was unable to end its eight-year wait for a victory over Australia, which cruised to a 32-8 win at Principality Stadium on Sunday (AEDT).
The Wallabies received a stern test against Wales in the Rugby World Cup last year, Michael Cheika's men prevailing 15-6 in a tense clash in Pool A. However, the gulf in class was startling this time around.
Australia — whitewashed by England and New Zealand earlier in the year — was dominant throughout and ran in five tries to begin its five end-of-year Tests in marvellous fashion.
Bernard Foley endured a difficult day with the boot — adding the extras just twice — but his inaccuracy went unpunished, as Wales mustered little in terms of resistance. A Leigh Halfpenny penalty and Scott Williams's try was all the hosts had to show for their efforts on a bleak afternoon for Rob Howley's side.
Foley and Halfpenny traded penalties inside the first seven minutes but Wales buckled under early Australia pressure in the 11th minute as Wallabies captain Stephen Moore crashed over from a driving maul.
Fly-half Dan Biggar was sent to the sin bin five minutes later for preventing a try with a cynical tackle off the ball but Australia missed a huge chance to immediately take advantage as Dane Haylett-Petty knocked on with the line at his mercy.
Australia did add a second try after 25 minutes though, Reece Hodge going over for his first five-pointer as a Wallabies player after bursting through and neatly exchanging passes with Israel Folau.
A rare Halfpenny miss typified a morale-sapping first half from Wales and Australia stretched its lead further before half-time through Tevita Kuridrani, who latched on to a Foley pass to touch down in the left-hand corner.
Foley turned from creator to beneficiary after the restart as Australia put the ball through hands to allow the fly-half to sprint through a huge gap in the Wales defence.
Williams — into the side as a replacement for injured centre Jonathan Davies — collected his own grubber kick to give Wales a consolation try.
Howley was handed a fresh problem ahead of next week's meeting with Argentina as scrum-half Rhys Webb was forced off through injury, and Wales was denied another crumb of comfort as Nick Frisby's magnificent try-saving tackle thwarted Hallam Amos in the corner.
A hugely disappointing performance from the hosts was capped off when a sloppy pass was scooped up by Haylett-Petty, who strolled under the posts to complete the rout.
