Australia snapped a three-game losing streak with the most incredible comeback to defeat Wales 39-34 at Principality Stadium despite their injury crisis.
Wales, inspired by the once again excellent Jac Morgan, led 34-13 after 52 minutes after a try in each half from the flanker as well as scores from Taulupe Faletau and Rio Dyer.
But Australia fought back when seemingly down and out, capitalising on Wales going down to 14 and then 13 men to come back and score 26 unanswered points to leave Cardiff stunned into silence.
Wales were desperate to bounce back from their historic 13-12 defeat to Georgia last week, in an Autumn Nations Series that has also seen them lose 55-23 to New Zealand and defeat Argentina 20-13.
The Wallabies meanwhile had been on the wrong end of three straight tight scorelines, losing 30-29 to France, 28-27 to Italy and 13-10 to Ireland, although they did defeat Scotland 16-15 in the Autumn Nations Series opener.
MORGAN AND FALETAU POWER WALES INTO HALF-TIME LEAD
Wales were expected to come out firing after defeat to Georgia last week, but straight from the kick-off there was a mistake with a knock-on and it was in fact the Wallabies who scored the first points, with fly-half Ben Donaldson knocking over a penalty.
Any fears among Wales fans that it might be a continuation from the week before were quickly squashed though, with the home side quickly getting onto the front foot and causing the Australia defence significant problems.
The main source of all of those problems was Morgan, who impressed a week ago with a brace of tries and he quickly made that three tries in two games.
Alun Wyn Jones ran a great line off Tomos Williams and found himself clear through a gap, freeing his hands when eventually met by Wallabies full-back Tom Wright to find Morgan.
He still had a lot to do with prop Allan Alaalatoa making the tackle, but his powerful leg drive saw him crash over.
Donaldson knocked over a second penalty for Australia to reduce the gap back to one point, before Gareth Anscombe put Wales into a 10-6 lead from the tee after 20 minutes.
Two minutes later and that lead was extended, with some really slick hands from Wales, which created an overlap on the right hand side.
Dyer fed Faletau with 20 metres to go, and the No.8 sprinted brilliantly into the corner despite the efforts of four Australian defenders, with Anscombe then slotting one of several touchline kicks to put Wales 17-6 ahead.
The fly-half then added three more points to give Wales a 14-point lead, and any mentions of a week before were long gone.
Australia did hit back with a try before the break to reduce the deficit to seven points when Folau Fainga’a scored from the back of the driving maul.
Wales had one more big chance before the break when Dyer was freed down the left, getting to within inches of the line before eventually being hauled down.
Jake Gordon cynically killed the ball when tackling Kieran Hardy from an offside position and was sent to the sin-bin.
Three home scrums followed, with the Wallaby front row creaking under pressure in much the same way Wales’ pack suffered seven days ago, but in the end Hardy could not get over the line and Wales had to settle for a seven-point lead at the break.
NAWAQANITAWASE INSPIRES OUTRAGEOUS AUSTRALIA COMEBACK
Already down to 14 men with Gordon off the field, Australia would have wanted to just get through that opening five minutes unscathed.
Initially that appeared to be the case, when Reece Hodge had an effort at goal from three metres inside his own half strike the right post, but the Wallabies’ discipline quickly became a serious problem.
Having been warned after those three first-half scrum penalties in a row, replacement loosehead Tom Robertson joined Gordon on the naughty step after another scrum went Wales’ way.
Against 13 men, it did not take long for Wayne Pivac’s side to capitalise, with Morgan crossing for his second of the day and fourth in two weeks from the back of an ominous driving maul 15 metres out.
A two-score lead quickly became three, with another Wales maul pushing the Wallabies right back to their try-line and more slick hands from backline saw the ball quickly find itself to the left and Dyer walked in a fourth try.
At 34-13, the game seemed dead and buried, that was before Mark Nawaqanitawase brought the away side right back into the game, scoring two tries in 12 minutes.
His first was a well-taken finish in the corner which still left Australia a lot to do, but after Wales captain Justin Tipuric was yellow carded for a trip on Pete Samu, the Wallabies were given a foot in the door.
That door opened further virtually straight away when Nawaqanitawase ran straight over from a lineout move, running onto Tate McDermott’s pass with real vigour and crashing over to reduce the gap to nine points.
McDermott was involved again when the Wallabies increased the pressure further, pinning them deep in their 22 with a smart kick.
Australia won the ball back when Joe Hawkins knocked it on and after another penalty was conceded, the Wallabies powered towards the line with a maul which saw Ryan Elias sent to the sin bin for collapsing and referee Matt Carley ran under his posts to award a penalty try.
Suddenly Australia were just two points down facing 13 men and with momentum very much on their side.
There were bound to be gaps in the Wales defensive line and Australia found them quickly, with Nawaqanitawase and McDermott again combining to put the Wallabies on the front foot deep in the Wales 22.
Eventually the ball came wide and despite the best efforts of Hardy to intercept, replacement hooker Lachlan Lonergan picked up the loose ball and scored to complete the most unlikely comeback.
Wales were left shellshocked, leading 34-13 with less than half an hour on the clock, but this was an incredible display of Wallaby courage to fightback and steal the win with such a long list of absentees.
