Wales 6 Australia 15

Warren Gatland’s men will be back in London to face South Africa in the quarter-finals next Saturday and the build-up to that clash with the resurgent Springboks will be dominated by talk about ‘being clinical’.

That is because Wales missed a golden chance to end their 10-game losing streak against the Aussies.

In the second half they were camped inside the Wallabies’ 22 against a side down to 13 men yet they failed to convert incredible pressure into any points.

Yes, the Aussie defence was incredible but World Cup contenders need to grasp such chances and Welsh heads dropped after coming up short.

A fortnight ago it was Chris Robshaw being lambasted for going to the corner, this time should Sam Warburton have been pointing to the sticks?

But Wales don't have long to dwell on things and with the scrum continuing to wobble and centre Jamie Roberts and wing Liam Williams injury worries, a big turnaround will be needed if Wales are to set up a semi-final encounter with holders New Zealand.

It isn’t mission impossible against the Boks – who they downed in Cardiff in the autumn – but the huge Welsh contingent in ‘Twickers’ should really have been contemplating a much more preferable meeting with Scotland and a far easier route to the final.

The management team must now pick up their charges, who Gatland always says perform so well in backs-to-the-wall situations.

When the sides met in Cardiff in the autumn it was a ridiculously open eight-try affair with both sides crossing for three of their scores in the first half.

This was a more cagey, more intense and more entertaining affair than that Millennium Stadium clash, which was littered with defensive howlers.

Wales made a blistering start, aided by a pair of solid scrums.

First a Gareth Davies snipe from a set piece turnover put them on the attack inside the 22 with centre George North held up over the line after full-back Gareth Anscombe’s grubber caused mayhem.

Then from the resulting scrum – solid again –the Aussies were pinged from a Taulupe Faletau carry to allow Dan Biggar to make it 3-0.

Wales were firing; aggressive in defence, carrying directly around the fringes, sharp of mind.

Yet for all their dominance it remained just 3-0 entering the second quarter with the classy Wallabies sure to wake at some stage.

The Aussies may boast Israel Folau, Matt Giteau and Adam Ashley-Cooper in their three-quarters but it was their tight game that got them a foothold – and a leveller through the right boot of Bernard Foley on 24 minutes after Wales tighthead Samson Lee was sent airborne from a scrum for the second time.

Wales were having a wobble and it was 6-3 to the men in gold after half an hour; Justin Tipuric breakdown penalty on halfway, Luke Charteris collapsing a maul five metres out, good initial defence from the drive and the Liam Williams off his feet, Foley through the uprights.

Biggar swiftly levelled things back up, making it a perfect 15 in the tournament, only for another penalty in Welsh territory (Faletau using in his feet to kick the ball out of scrum-half Will Genia’s hands) to see Foley make it 9-6 after a warning by South African ref Craig Joubert.

It should have been level-pegging at the break only for Biggar to miss one of his easier efforts from 40 metres out in front of the sticks, quickly followed by a lucky escape when a speculative Giteau long-range effort fell comfortably short of the sticks with the clock in the red.

Neither side started with the accuracy that they would have demanded after the resumption and a neck roll by Faletau allowed the Wallabies to stretch to 12-6 after 50 minutes.

But Gatland’s men were given a golden opportunity when Genia was sin-binned for cynically tackling opposite number Gareth Davies from a quick tap after 55 minutes – and the penalty was kicked to the corner.

Aussie captain Stephen Moore was done for ‘swimming’, it was kicked back to the corner and then Faletau went over... only for the TMO to spot a knock-on.

Advantage was being played. Back to the corner. Dean Mumm yellow card for taking out the lineout jumper. Scrum five. Ball flung wide and defended. George North held up over the line after super Alex Cuthbert break. Another scrum five. More desperate defence. Liam Williams held up over the line. Another penalty kicked to the corner. More brilliant defence. Australia penalty. Lines cleared.

Wales had missed a glorious chance and Australia made them pay by adding three more points from the very next attack after being pinged for offside when defending desperately inside their 22 after a stupendous Folau break.

With 72 minutes gone Wales were down 15-6 with a mountain to climb and the clock an even bigger enemy than it had been before their stirring comeback last time at Twickenham.

A second backs-to-the-wall win was never on and the final nail in the coffin came when Cuthbert was sin-binned for a deliberate knock-on in the 77th minute. Foley missed his shot at goal but it didn’t matter.

Wales: G Anscombe, A Cuthbert, G North, J Roberts (L Williams 79), L Williams (J Hook 74), D Biggar (R Priestland 74), G Davies, P James (A Jarvis 73), S Baldwin (K Owens 73), S Lee (T Francis 54), L Charteris, A W Jones, S Warburton (captain), J Tipuric (R Moriarty 73), T Faletau.

Scorers: penalties – D Biggar (2)

Australia: I Folau, A Ashley-Cooper, T Kuridrani, M Giteau (M Toomua 67), D Mitchell (K Beale 67), B Foley, W Genia (N Phipps 68), S Sio (J Slipper 64), S Moore (captain, T Polata-Nau 67)), S Kepu (G Holmes 56), K Douglas, D Mumm, S Fardy, S McMahon (B McCalman 49), D Pocock (R Simmons 60).

Scorers: penalties – B Foley (5)

Referee: Craig Joubert (South Africa)

Attendance: 80,863