Wallabies suffer biggest World Cup loss in history

afr.com:

Lyon | Wales romped into the quarter-finals of the Rugby World Cup with a record 40-6 victory over Australia on Sunday (6.48am on Monday AEST) that left the twice-world champion Wallabies heading for a pool stage exit for the first time.

It was the Wallabies’ biggest World Cup loss in history. The biggest previous defeat was 40-16 against England in 2019.

Jac Morgan scores for Wales just before full-time. AP

Scrumhalf Gareth Davies, centre Nick Tompkins and flanker Jac Morgan scored tries with replacement flyhalf Gareth Anscombe banging over six penalties, a conversion and a drop goal to give the Welsh a third win in three Pool C matches.

The Wallabies, stunned by Fiji last week, lacked nothing in endeavour but made too many mistakes and were outclassed by a streetwise Welsh side, who backed their defence, managed the game expertly and ruthlessly made the most of their chances.

Eddie Jones’ young team, who managed only two early Ben Donaldson penalties, still have a mathematical chance of getting into the knockout rounds, but would need Fiji to lose at least one of their last two pool matches against Georgia and Portugal.

The game could not have started worse for the Wallabies, who were penalised at the first breakdown and a try down in under three minutes after Wales captain Morgan burst through the midfield and offloaded for Davies to score.

Australia immediately tested the Welsh defence through multiple phases and came away with a Donaldson penalty in the ninth minute and another in the 14th as the result of a dominant scrum.

Wales flyhalf Dan Biggar was injured in an early tackle and replaced by Anscombe, who missed his first attempt at goal but nailed the next three to extend the lead to 16-6 at half time.

Anscombe