Wales 20 Australia 32

While in no way taking away from Wales' noble efforts in the second half, the match was as good as over by the interval, by which time they were playing for pride.

And they showed plenty of it as they outscored the Wallabies in the second 40 minutes, showed they could play some rugby and for the second week running revealed glimpses of the exhilarating Welsh way, though infuriatingly, again, too few of them.

But the eventual defeat means they now face a quarter-final, which they will surely reach by despatching Japan and Fiji in their remaining two pool games, against the mighty Springboks.

And after the way South Africa crushed England, inflicting on them a record World Cup defeat, not even the wildest optimist would put a penny on Wales winning that one.

The best Wales can hope for is damage limitation, at worst they are staring at a real hiding. It will depend on the attitude of the Springboks on the day, whether they will be content with just a victory and conserving themselves for the semi-finals, or whether they feel like making a real statement.

If the latter is the case then heaven help Wales in Marseille on October 7.

As against Canada in Nantes, they made the worst possible start. When they knew they had to be fast off the blocks and not allow the opposition a head start, that is precisely what happened.

Though Stephen Jones levelled a penalty by Stirling Mortlock, Australia stepped up a gear and scored three first-half tries to settle the match there and then with a 25-3 interval lead.

The Welsh defence had to be questioned because they let tries in that Australia had no right to score.

Chris Latham should never have been allowed to score his first try, for example. Influential number eight Wycliff Palu got away from the defence, wing Drew Mitchell sped down the touchline, and though hemmed in by Welsh defenders, still got his pass in to Latham, who ploughed through two more for a soft try which should have been prevented.

And then in the second half a Wales revival was snuffed out when Stephen Jones failed to cover a kick by danger man Latham, allowed the ball to bounce and the full back regathered an admittedly fortunate bounce before speeding away for his second try.

Having said that, Wales at least didn't fold in the same manner as England had the night before, they made a game of it and they battled right to the end, scoring a couple of tries themselves.

Improving back-row forward Jonathan Thomas made it to the line after a lovely piece of footwork by James Hook, who had replaced injured captain Gareth Thomas.

Hook converted and put a penalty over after Jones had missed two earlier kickable efforts, and then near the end Wales began to play some of the rugby which won them the Grand Slam in 2005.

Shane Williams was at the heart of it with some wonderfully daring runs, though replacement Michael Owen set the ball rolling with some of those typically weighted passes, and Williams thoroughly deserved his try with five minutes left.

By then, though, Australia had been reduced to 13 men, with Mitchell yellow-carded for a spear tackle on Matthew Rees, and lock Nathan Sharpe followed as New Zealand referee Steve Walsh judged that he had prevented the ball being released.

More sleight of hand by Hook, a neat pass by Gethin Jenkins and a burst by Colin Charvis opened the way for Williams to dart across, though it could be said that if 15-man Wales couldn't score against 13 facing them there really would have been something wrong.

But despite failing to hit the ground running and having to overcome injuries to skipper Thomas and Sonny Parker, Wales at least earned some plaudits.

Yet it could be said that Thomas got his just deserts after an awful late tackle on young Berrick Barnes, who had stepped in for knee injury victim Stephen Larkham on the morning of the match.

Barnes played with typical Aussie self-confidence, setting up the first try for Matt Giteau with a lovely run and well-timed inside pass when Thomas stuck the shoulder in to flatten him after the ball had gone.

It could well have been a yellow-card offence, but Thomas didn't last much longer when combative Aussie captain Mortlock careered into him on a typically powerful run and damaged his shoulder in the process. Parker had already departed with a knee injury, so Wales were disrupted.

But their kicking game was not accurate enough, Jones and Kevin Morgan, who replaced Parker, allowing the Aussies to counter-attack, highly dangerous with runners of their calibre in the back division.

And though the Welsh set pieces continue to improve with the scrum more solid and their own line-out ball more secure, with the back row pretty active as well, Australia were just more direct, had more options and played the game with a far greater intensity than anything Wales could manage.

It was a harsh lesson, though no more than the rest of the Northern Hemisphere teams have had to learn.

And where were the Welsh fans? More than 4,000 seats remained empty and there was an absolute stack of yellow-jerseyed Aussie fans in the ground.

Tickets were expensive, it's true, but come on, this is the World Cup and it was a big game in the Millennium Stadium.

Those fans, present or otherwise, are now going to have to face the unpleasant truth.

Wales are left playing out time in the World Cup and the three Southern Hemisphere giants of New Zealand, South Africa and Australia are miles ahead of us. If anything, the gap is getting wider.

Wales: G Thomas, captain (J Hook 21), M Jones, T Shanklin, S Parker (K Morgan 18), S Williams, S Jones, D Peel (M Phillips 70), G Jenkins, M Rees (R Thomas 65), A Jones (D Jones 65), I Gough (M Owen 65), A W Jones, C Charvis (A Popham 12-15 and 48-60), J Thomas, M Williams.

Scorers - tries: J Thomas, S Williams; conversions: J Hook (2); penalties: Hook, S Jones.

Australia: C Latham, D Mitchell, S Mortlock, captain (S Staniforth 40), M Giteau, L Tuqiri, B Barnes (J Huxley 77), G Gregan, M Dunning, S Moore (A Freier 68), G Shepherdson (A Baxter 77), N Sharpe, D Vickerman, R Elsom (M Chisholm 70), W Palu, G Smith (P Waugh 62).

Scorers - tries: S Mortlock, M Giteau (2), C Latham; conversions: Mortlock (2), Giteau; penalty: Mortlock; dropped goal: Barnes.