AUSTRALIA LAYS RUGBY BOGEY Upset 14-11 Victory First Success Against Wales

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31234, 5 December 1966, Page 3

AUSTRALIA LAYS RUGBY BOGEY Upset 14-11 Victory First Success Against Wales

(Special Correspondent A .Z.P A.) CARDIFF. Australia wrote a chapter in Rugby history on Saturday by beating Wales, 14-11, at Cardiff. It is the first time Australia has beaten Wales and the first time it has won at Cardiff Arms Park.

The Wallabies provided one of the biggest surprises iu international football in recent years. Few gave them a chance after their sorry efforts of recent weeks but they lifted their game magnificently before 50,000 Welshmen.

The game was fast and open, with Wales departing from its expected negative tactics of touch-kicking and meeting Australia halfway with some crisp running football. The teams were aided by a ground which had dried out remarkably well in some bright sunshine early Saturday morning. Australia’s heroes were two great footballers —the halfback, K. Catchpole, and the breakaway, G. Davis. They were magnificent. , Former Triumphs Catchpole bobbed up at the most unlikely places and his cover tackling was a joy to watch. Davis seemed to have a short piece of string tied between himself and the ball. I He was always on call. Fellow

Wallabies ranked his game alongside some of his triumphs in South Africa three years ago. The Australian team manager, Mr W. McLaughlin, beaming with delight, said: “It was one of the greatest internationals I have seen. “It was a wonderful win. The whole team is to be congratulated.” Team Blended Most people must now think the Wallabies were “foxing” in their earlier games, in which they won six, lost six, and drew one. But all they did was to get the backs and forwards blending for a change. Australia was ahead 14-6 until Wales scored a converted try three minutes before the end to make things more respectable for the Welshmen. The Australian forwards were tough and relentless, with the two new arrivals, R. Teitzel and M. Purcell, giving strong support to the more experienced men. Purcell was most rewarding at the back of the lineouts and it is going to be hard to leave him out of the remaining test teams.

Equalled Record The battered prop, A. Miller, in his record-equalling thirty-sixth test match, played with the enthusiasm of a teen-ager and was always where the going was toughest.

Australia was seriously handicapped in the second half as its line-out star, R. Heming, could not leap for the ball because of an injured foot. With Heming immobilised, the Welsh line-out forwards, B. Price and D. Thomas, won most of the ball. But Wales had trouble with its halves. A. Lewis was slow with his delivery and B. John stood much too far away from him. Often John was picking the ball up from his toes, not because the passes from Lewis were poor, but because they

had lost their momentum by the time they reached him. The Australian backs, in contrast, fitted smoothly as if to show the forwards that their hard work was not going to be wasted. P. Hawthorne was steady at five-eighths and kicked a lovely field goal. The centres, J. Brass and R. Marks, made some fierce tackles which often threw the Welsh attack into a spin. One of Marks's tackles, seven minutes from the end. forced the opposing G. Davies, to lose the ball near his line. Davies booted the ball ahead, Hawthorne picked up and gave it to Catchpole, who relayed it on the blind side to Brass and then to A. Cardy. Cardy sprinted over for a try and Hawthorne’s goal made it 14-6, virtually sealing victory for Australia. The wingers. Cardy and S. Boyce, were solid, and J. Lenehan rose to the occasion at full-back with a first-class display. He scored a try late in the first half when he came up outside Cardy to take a pass and barge over for a try. Wales Scored Wales took the lead after 15 minutes when John kicked ahead and from a scramble H. Morgan broke clear and scored a try.

Hawthorne's field goal, his fifth on the tour, followed a scrum 35 yards out and evened the score after 22 minutes. Lenehan made it 6-3 with a penalty after Cardy was latetackled near the posts. The scores were levelled with a penalty by Price, five minutes later, but Lenehan’s try made it 9-6 to Australia at half-time.

The game see-sawed for most of the second half, with first Australia and then Wales going close to scoring tries. Hawthorne lost the ball as he was tackled in diving for a try. Then D. Bebb kicked the ball over the Australian dead-ball line in a moment of over-eagerness.

The converted try by Cardy made it 14-6 and the Welsh centre. J. Dawes, slipped over for a try three minutes from the close, which Price converted. At the end of the match the crowd charged on to the field, and burst into “Waltzing Matilda” and chaired the muddy ! but triumphant Australians from the ground.