The ancient Roman city of Lugdunum (modern day Lyon) was where the Australian Wallabies met their Waterloo. And just as many martyrs have died in the various colisseums scattered throughout the city, the wounded Wallabies join this pile. Coming into the match against Wales they had suffered their first defeat in 69 years, 15-22, at the hands of their South Pacific cousins, Fiji. Being put to the sword with a 40-6 thumping by the Welsh, Australian rugby is at an all-time low and staring down the possibility of not getting out of their Pool for the first time in World Cup history.

The recriminations against their coach, the talismanic Eddie Jones, have already began with quarter-final positions not yet decided. If he did take a call from the Japanese Rugby Football Union (JRFU), to which he strongly denied, before the World Cup then the distractions before the important Wales match can be justified; if not then a really bad look from the Australian media. Rugby is based more and more around the coach’s instructions and if that trust is lost the team can become disorientated. This certainly looked the case when Samu Kerevi seemed to be the only Wallaby making any penetration in the first half when they had plenty of possession. Nothing they tried seemed to come to fruition and the Welsh defence was more than adequate to the task and kept the scoreboard ticking over every time they were down Australia’s end. Down 16-6 at half-time the Aussies were still in the fight, but poor judgement let them down and a masterclass by Gareth Anscombe meant the men from Gaul would be deserved victors in Lyon.

Many Wallaby fans had travelled over for the match but became disillusioned early when Gareth Davies scored in the 3rd minute and was subsequently converted by Dan Biggar. Biggar was substituted in the 12th minute by Gareth Anscombe who manged to knock over three penalties after missing the first to make the score 16-6 at the break.

The second half began as the first finished with an Anscombe penalty. By the time Nick Tompkins scored in the 48th minute the Wallaby supporters became subdued and the Welsh singing began to pick up. It was not a happy night to be wearing Green and Gold. The final score of 40-6 was a knife to the heart of diehard Wallaby fans and the possibility that they might night continue to the quarters unfathomable.