Wales 42 United States 11

Date:  18 Nov 2000
Venue:  Cardiff-Millennium Stadium
Attendance:  33000
Referee:  Ramage i.

At the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, Wales laboured to an unconvincing 42-11 victory over the United States in their final game before their daunting Test match with South Africa.

Coach Graham Henry had warned his side to give him an 80 minute performance following a stop-start display against a weakened Samoa last time out.

But this was hardly the response he was looking for with angry fans calling for his head close to the end.

Also in the spotlight was fly-half Arwel Thomas, who bore the brunt of Henry's criticism last week and the pressure told with the Swansea man missing one penalty and one conversion.

Wales were given an early scare when Grant Wells put a 30-yard penalty wide after just five minutes from in front of the posts.

That was the cue for Wales to wake up from their early lethargy and Chris Wyatt burst through a crowd of players before being thwarted by a last-ditch tackle after eight minutes.

But Dafydd James went over in the corner after 11 minutes following a pass from Thomas only for the fly-half to then send his conversion wide of the far post.

The Eagles continued to defend bravely but could not prevent skipper Mark Taylor scoring Wales second try after 25 minutes.  He squeezed just inside the touchline and this time Thomas made no mistake with the conversion, stroking the ball over from a tight angle.

Before the break, Thomas scored two more penalties, the first a long-range effort, and Wells notched three points in between.

The USA trailed 18-3 at the interval but quickly reduced that when Malakai Delai outstripped the Welsh defence after 44 minutes and ran the ball home Although Wells hooked his conversion wide, he made amends with a penalty after 53 minutes.

Two minutes later, Thomas showed a flash of brilliance as he confused the American defence with a feint before finishing the move off and then converting.

Wales then stepped up the tempo with Rhys Williams scoring after 59 minutes.  Thomas skied the conversion and that was his last significant act as he was brought off and replaced by Neil Jenkins with 14 minutes to go.

Jenkins' first act was to skew a conversion wide following James' second try of the afternoon but Wales' record point scorer had the final say.

The Cardiff man converted his own try in stoppage time to put a flattering gloss on the scoreline -- but the result could not hide Wales' many deficiencies.