Australia 24 Wales 9

Australia ended the World Cup dreams of hosts Wales on Saturday, claiming their place in the semi-finals with a hard-earned 24-9 victory at the Millennium Stadium.

Two tries by George Gregan and one from Ben Tune gave the Wallabies a deserved success on a poor quality pitch as Wales finally succumbed to their opponents' greater attacking flair in front of a capacity 72,000 crowd.

In the last four next weekend at Twickenham Rod Macqueen's side, who have conceded just one try so far, will face the winner of Sunday's England-South Africa quarter-final in Paris.  "We're pretty happy," said Australia captain John Eales, whose side led only 10-9 at half-time.  "It was very close at half-time and it was anyone's game.  But our defence held up.  We've a lot of confidence in our squad."  Wales' kick-king Neil Jenkins, who started the match as the new points world record holder with 927, spurned an early chance to go for goal, preferring instead to find touch with a penalty on the halfway line.

Australia, who had racked up 250 points in their last six clashes with Wales, took advantage and Joe Roff had already threatened to open Australia's account after a sharp break by fly-half Stephen Larkham when he created a score for scrum-half George Gregan.  The Welsh defence was nowhere to be seen as Roff spurted down the left flank and passed inside for Zambian-born Gregan to flop over.

Matthew Burke converted to complete the perfect start for the Wallabies.

Jenkins took his next opportunity, slotting superbly from the touchline to make it 7-3.  Australia were dominant though and Burke immediately made it 10-3 with his first penalty.  Jenkins kept Wales within touching distance with another three-pointer as the rain began to drench the turf, provoking handling errors from Australia in particular.

And when Australia flanker David Wilson ventured offside on the half-hour, Jenkins made it 10-9 with his third successful kick out of three.

Mud patches began to appear on the surface and Wales looked the more likely to score, with winger Gareth Thomas wasting a two-man overlap in stoppage time at the end of the first half.  Australia started the second half as they had the first and only a fine Brett Sinkinson tackle denied Daniel Herbert a touchdown after a neat scissors in midfield.  But Wales absorbed the pressure well and the tension was evident as the half-hour point was passed since either side had troubled the scorers.  It took a moment of magic from the impressive Larkham to break the deadlock.

The fly-half took the ball from Gregan and chipped through.  He was baulked by the Welsh defence but Tune stormed through and beat Shane Howarth to the ball to score.  Burke converted and a relieved Australia were 17-9 up with 15 minutes left.

Wilson and Tune were then both quickly denied tries because of knock-ons as the southern hemisphere side greater dynamism began to tell.  This time there was no rain to save the Welsh and in the final minutes they struggled to get out of their own half.

In stoppage time it was the Australians who scored again, in highly dubious circumstances.  Tim Horan broke several tackles but appeared to knock on and when the ball fell loose Gregan touched down.

New Zealand referee Colin Hawke, given the bird by the crowd for much of the match, then infuriated them by awarding the try, which Burke converted to complete Australia's 24-9 victory.  "We just gave away too much ball," said Wales full-back Shane Howarth.  "If you don't play to the best of your ability at this level you get beaten and that's what happened.  We're a bit naive at the moment."

The teams:

Australia:  1 Andrew Blades, 2 Michael Foley, 3 Richard Harry, 4 John Eales (c), 5 David Giffin, 6 Matt Cockbain, 7 David Wilson, 8 Tiaan Strauss, 9 George Gregan, 10 Steve Larkham, 11 Joe Roff, 12 Dan Herbert, 13 Tim Horan, 14 Ben Tune, 15 Matthew Burke
Reserves:  Mark Connors, Owen Finegan, Jason Little, Jeremy Paul

Wales:  1 Peter Rogers, 2 Hooker Garin Jenkins, 3 Dai Young, 4 Craig Quinnell, 5 Chris Wyatt, 6 Colin Charvis, 7 Brett Sinkinson, 8 Scott Quinnell, 9 Rob Howley (c), 10 Neil Jenkins, 11 Dafydd James, 12 Scott Gibbs, 13 Mark Taylor, 14 Gareth Thomas, 15 Shane Howarth
Reserves:  Allan Bateman, Ben Evans, Andrew Lewis, Mike Voyle

Attendance:  71500
Referee:  Hawke c

Points Scorers:

Australia
Tries:  Gregan G.M. 2, Tune B.N. 1
Conv:  Burke M.C. 3
Pen K.:  Burke M.C. 1

Wales
Pen K.:  Jenkins N.R. 3