‘They made it hard for themselves’: Michael Hooper reviews Wallabies’ win

Former Australia captain Michael Hooper has summed up last weekend’s 36-28 win over Wales in Melbourne by explaining how the Wallabies “made it hard for themselves” on the road to victory at AAMI Park.

Following Australia’s nine-point win over the same foe one week earlier, the hosts were widely considered the favourites for the final fixture in the two-Test series. Thousands of fans toughed it out in initially rainy conditions as they prepared to watch another important clash.

It was a bit of a tense start but the Wallabies took hold of some momentum from about the five-minute mark.

Andrew Kellaway created something special from nothing by chipping the ball forward from practically his own try line. After regathering possession, the winger found Fraser McReight who in turn passed the ball onto try scorer Filipo Daugunu.

Halfback Jake Gordon would score Australia’s only other try in the first half as the men in gold ran up a commanding 17-nil lead after just 25 minutes of play. But as Michael Hooper discussed, it was far from smooth sailing from then on.

“They did well, they did well the fact it was 10 minutes of great Wallaby play, 10 minutes of poor Wallaby play and good Welsh play,” the Wallabies great said on Stan Sport’s Between Two Posts.

“So, the back and forth, it would’ve been nice to really kick on. I think that game had the opportunity for the Aussies to run away with it a bit more but geez they made it hard for themselves.

“At one point, the first try, we’re laughing about it… five metres out, it’s a comedy of errors with long passes and then (Andrew) Kellaway chips, regathers, Fraser (McReight), they go the length on them.

“It was just one of those nights, it’s like one great thing and then one not so good thing, or the other way around.”

The feeling in the stadium was almost a sense of welcomed surprise. Australia were on track for a dominant win and fans decked out in gold and green couldn’t have been happier with the performance up until that moment.

But then Wales fought back, with captain Dewi Lake scoring two tries in less than 10 minutes. The Welsh maul couldn’t be stopped and that was the recipe for success as they reduced the deficit to just six points at one stage.

Wales continued to fight in the second term as they came within a converted try of taking the lead with just 10 minutes to play. While the result ended up going Australia’s way, which extended Wales’ losing run to nine Tests, the Wallabies have plenty to work on.

“I don’t think it’s a danger position to be in. It means you’ve got to double down on what you’re doing,” Hooper explained when asked about the 17-nil lead.

“The Welsh, in fairness, they came with their maul game and they started getting that going and we didn’t know how to deal with that as effectively as we’d like I think.

“As this year progresses, that’s an area that we really need to get going because we saw in the first game the Welsh got some pay there too and then again the second week.

“I’m sure they’re going to be talking a fair bit about that this week leading into Georgia.”