Wales vs Australia: A statistical look

The second full round of fixtures in this year’s Autumn Nations Series saw a mix of tight clashes and resounding victories – we take a look at some of the key stats from the weekend.

Wales vs Australia

Australia recorded their biggest victory against Wales since 1996 (42-3) and their biggest in Cardiff since a 38-3 win during the 1991 Rugby World Cup.

Matt Faessler and Tom Wright dotted down for three tries each, a rare feat for the Wallabies. Since the beginning of 2018 only one man had scored a hat-trick for Australia – Andrew Kellaway, against Argentina back in 2021.

Wright was devastating with ball in hand, making three line breaks and beating five defenders from his 12 carries, gaining 243 metres in the process – the most by any player against a Tier 1 nation since 2018 (Jordan Larmour, 245 vs Italy).

Wales have lost both of their games in this year’s Autumn Nations Series, despite playing roughly a quarter of each game with a man advantage due to their opponents having a man sent off or in the sin bin.

However, Wales seem to have struggled more against 14 men than they have against 15 this year, conceding 28 points with a man advantage in their two matches of the Autumn Nations Series, by far the most of any team.

Wales have now lost their last 11 tests, the longest losing run in their test history, with the daunting prospect of facing the world champions next weekend.