Wales will face South Africa in the quarter-finals after falling to a 15-6 defeat to Australia in their final Pool A game.
No tries were scored, but it was a thrilling game in which the Welsh got over the Australian try line on three different occasions, but were held up each time.
The result means that Australia will take on Scotland after the Scots’ narrow win over Samoa earlier.
Here’s what we learned.
1. Wales limp on
In spite of the defeat, Wales will still take their place in the quarter-finals after England crashed out last week. But it remains to be seen how much further they can go, as they find themselves in the harder side of the draw.
Warren Gatland will be annoyed that his men could not make their extra rest days pay off and they actually looked like the more tired of the two teams as the game wore on.
Wales may well have already come up against the best team of the tournament, but it feels like some of the air has been let out since the win over England.
Gareth Anscombe was very poor and Gatland should consider reinstating North on the wing, with Hook at centre and Liam Williams at full back, assuming he is fit.
2. Another southern disappointment
Wales have once again failed to beat a southern hemisphere team and will be particularly frustrated with this loss having spent so much time camped out on the Australian line.
In the next round, they face another team from down south. Fortunately for Wales, it is the only one of the original Tri Nations teams that they have beaten under Gatland.
They will look to replicate last November’s win over the Springboks, but Bryan Habana and Co. have looked very dangerous since their opening day defeat to Japan. Still, the game will be there for the taking if they want it.
3. Australia should be favourites
While there is no doubting Michael Cheika’s past achievements, few imagined he would turn around the Wallabies’ fortunes so quickly when he took the reigns just 12 months ago.
They have only lost one of their nine test matches this year – a friendly with New Zealand the week after beating the All-Blacks to the Rugby Championship title.
Cheika remains the only coach to ever win both the European Cup and the Super 15 crown, and it looks like he could be set to add the William Webb Ellis trophy to that already incredible collection.
4. Wales lack attacking ambition
For all the credit that needs to be given to Australia for a phenomenal defensive display, the fact remains that Wales could not score a try despite spending what felt like a lifetime on the Australian line with the Wallabies down to 13 men.
Regardless of the injuries Wales have had to deal with in the preparations for this game, that is inexcusable. The inability of the Warren Gatland’s side to exploit their greater numbers shows something we saw in the England game too.
While the Welsh defence is formidable, they lack a creative playmaker who can grab the game by the scruff of its neck and will his team to victory. Dan Biggar has had a very good tournament so far, but he just falls short in this regard.
It’s hard to picture someone like Jonny Sexton letting such an opportunity pass him by. On top of that, questions need to be asked of how Sam Warburton could not organise his forwards to power over with a two-man advantage.
Gareth Davies’ try against England only came once Wales had thrown caution to the wind and started taking some massive risks. This could be a real problem for Wales going forward.
5. David Pocock rules supreme
Not even the combined efforts of Sam Warburton and Justin Tipuric could stop the Zimbabwe-born Pocock from dominating the breakdown.
Part of why Wales’ play was so stilted was the slow ball and turnovers created by the Australian back row. Even with the absence of Michael Hooper, Pocock was able to disrupt the Welsh play. Some of his actions were undoubtedly illegal, but he played referee Craig Joubert perfectly
It would take a mighty effort from another player in the knock-out stages to claw away the player of the tournament award from the Wallaby number eight.
