Live: Wallabies centre sent off but still hammer woeful Wales in Cardiff

A tremendous result for the Wallabies this morning.

Oh how things have changed since 13 months ago when Wales embarrassed the Wallabies at the World Cup.

Little over a year further on, and Wales are so deep in the mire there appears no way out for them.

It’s hard to know where they go from here, but the Wallabies will head north to Scotland for a brutally tough test against Scotland at Murrayfield.

The Scots are a very tough prospect and, despite the impressive results so far, a far superior challenge to what the Aussies have faced so far on tour.

We’ll be back to bring you all the action from that game late on Saturday night (AEDT) but until then, have a good Monday.

The Welsh are only just head of Georgia in the World Rugby Rankings in 11th place.

Had Georgia beaten Italy (they lost 20-17) they would have fallen below them.

Wales have not gone through a calendar year without recording a single victory since 1937.

They play World Champions, South Africa next week.

I say this with no joy in my heart, but they will be lucky not to ship 100 points against the Boks if they play like they did today.

Gatland is smiling his way through the pain of this interview…

“It’s the most challenging time I’ve ever known as a coach and what will be, will be,” he says.

“I will chat to a few people as to what happens from here.

“I am passionate about Welsh rugby but there’s a lot of negativity around the game right now and we want to make sure what happens is the best for Welsh rugby… not about me.

“I will respect the decision.

“It hurts. We got ourselves back into the game… but to me, we’re a man up and conceded three tries – 21 points – that’s really disappointing.

“From our point of view, we had a chance to put them under pressure, we probably just forced things – some turnovers, some penalties, so that was disappointing.

“I felt we had the chance to get ourselves back into it and kind of just shot ourselves in the foot.”

Some former Welsh players have been speaking on British TV.

They aint happy.

“You do wonder when is enough enough?” former flyhalf Dan Biggar said on TNT Sport.

“Would changing the head coach going to make this team better and suddenly go and win games?

“When does the run [of defeats] stop?” Biggar said.

“A change in head coach wouldn’t harm things because they can’t be worse.

“They looked absolutely bereft of ideas.”

Former Wales skipper Sam Warburton said it was “very raw”.

“You look at the quality of the Australian team and the quality in our team and I just think maybe this is where we are right now,” he says.

“I think we’ve got to realise this is where we are it, we’re in a bit of a dark place and it might take a while to come out of it.”

There are two massive games to come for the Wallabies on this tour, Scotland at Murrayfield and Ireland in Dublin.

“I have no doubt we need to go up another gear against Scotland,” Schmidt says.

“Scotland have really been playing at a really swift pace.

“That will be complicated for us.

“We feel like we’re slowly building our game. We’re not there yet. But we’ll aim to be competitive.”

Joe Schmidt said there were “a stack” of players to pay credit to – particularly the substitutes.

“Lukhan [Salakaia-Loto] came on and stole a couple of lineouts for us. Zane [Nonggorr] came on and did well,” he saus.

“Big Will Skelton, back in the group, I thought he put in a really good shift.”

Joe Schimdt says that the Wallabies had to change their plans a bit with the Kerevi send off.

But he added that the support the Wallabies were getting made that very easy.

“One thing that didn’t change is the support we’re starting to get,” he says.

“There’s enough yellow around to really inspire the boys.

“We’re trying to reciprocate the enthusiasm that they’re giving us.”

I think you’ll find that’s Australian gold, Mr Schmidt, but fair enough.

Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt said his side were under a lot of pressure coming into this game.

He said they avoided the banana skin.

“I think the banana skin got pretty slippery heading into half time at 19-13,” Schmidt tells Stan Sport.

“We’re pretty disappointed about the decision around Samu [Kerevi].

“We had Nic White come off with an HIA.

“We just think it’s pretty hard for Samu playing his 50th game and getting sent off.”

Here’s the Wales skipper, Dewi Lake, talking to local broadcaster S4C.

“We feel the same as everyone does at home,” he says.

“We’re disappointed with the run that we’re on, with the result today.

“We want to win games; we train hard, we work hard to win games, but we’re not there yet.

“Fifty points [conceded] tonight, we need to improve.

“They scored from three mauls tonight, that’s normally our game. They’ve stopped our mauls and scored three of their own and that’s just not good enough.

“We don’t need to reinvent the wheel here, we just need to take our points.”

Tom Wright spoke to TNT Sport in the UK after the win.

“That was an awesome 80-minute performance,” he said.

“Ebbs and flows, we gave a lot of momentum to Wales at stages, we made it difficult for ourselves, but those are games you like to be a part of.”

A very, very good win for the Wallabies.

That 52 points is the most the Wallabies have ever scored against Wales in Cardiff.

But what a shocking, embarrassing display in that second half from Wales, who now have surely hit rock bottom, an 11th-straight defeat that plunges the principality into further chaos and surely spells the end of Warren Gatland’s second spell in charge.

Make that three for Tom Wright!

Boos from the stands but that was brilliant.

Tate McDermott, slips out of a couple of tackles, passes out to Wright in support, who goes over untouched.

The Wallabies have hit 50 points.

Embarrassing for Wales.

The kick is wide.

It sends 52-20.

Well deserved.

He’s been brilliant in attack and has been well worth his two tries.

There is no atmosphere at all now in the Principality stadium.,

The Wallabies have the ball knocked on out of their hands, so will have a scrum.

But Wales get a free kick.

Ikitau and Suaalii combine, the former chipping for the latter and it was a magical little move between the pair that will lead the Wallabies midfield for years to come.

A handful of phases later, Ikitau throws a dummy, looks inside, turns Cameron Winnett into knots.

That’s incredible.

The kick from the sideline is good.

The Wallabies are in danger of hitting 50.

There are boos from the stands, which are starting to empty.

That wad very clever from Lolosio.

He chips ahead for Suaalii, but can’t get the ball to bounce right.

It matters little though, because Llewellyn is tackled into touch and the Wallabies have a lineout.

Ben Thomas crashes over after some more great work from James Botham – who has been one of the rare positives for Wales.

A nice pop pass from Botham, and that took Ikitau out the game, and then Suaalii went too high with the tackle – he needs to be careful there – and Thomas is over.

The kick is over, the score is 40-20 in favour of the Wallabies.

The Wallabies will have to be careful here.

Another maul penalty against the visitors and the next one should be a yellow.

There is a warning from the referee.

⁠Lukhan Salakaia-Loto got himself on the wrong side of the maul and is pinged for it.

Bravely, the Welsh opt to test their mis-firing lineout again.

And they win the ball.