WALES

15. Leigh Halfpenny: 6
Only lasted half an hour, in which he knocked over a couple of conversions and showed a couple of nice touches.

14. Alex Cuthbert: 6
Finished a walk-in of a try but also missed a crucial tackle at the other end, and aside from those two interventions there was little to say about his performance.

13. George North: 7
Performed well at centre, where he played a crucial role in Cuthbert’s try, before being moved out to his more familiar position of wing, where arguably he was less effective. Knocked the ball on in the final phase of play, but it shouldn’t have got to that.

12. Jamie Roberts: 7
A mammoth defensive effort, finishing with 17 tackles, but a limited impact with ball in hand other than cutting a few nice lines. One wonders how many more of these narrow defeats he can endure.

11. Liam Williams: 6.5
Moved to his more favoured fullback on the half hour mark but never really looked settled and was beaten to the ball in the air on a couple of occasions. Never gives less than 100%, though.

10. Dan Biggar: 6
The missed one-on-one tackle on Michael Hooper will haunt him, although one wonders how much he can be blamed after Gatland announced Wales hadn’t been practicing tackling in the last two weeks. Seems a bizarre decision.

9. Rhys Webb: 6
Scored a brilliant try, but gave one away and almost another with intercept passes. Won three turnovers and generally injected a decent amount of pace into the game. Deserves to keep his spot.

1. Paul James: 5.5
Was off the pitch before the penalty try was scored and was pinged at the scrum once for hinging, which the front rowers in commentary seemed to think was pretty silly.

2. Richard Hibbard: 7
The lineout went very well, for which he obviously deserves credit, but he also conceded a couple of penalties. Overall a positive influence on the game, though.

3. Samson Lee: 7
An excellent shift in the tight from the ginger-haired Scarlet, who gave James Slipper an uncomfortable time in the scrum.

4. Jake Ball: 6.5
A powerful performance from Ball who was also a useful source of lineout ball for Wales. Not much to report otherwise.

5. Alun Wyn Jones: 7
Eleven carries is a useful return for a man who also has to worry about the lineout, and spend an awful lot of time with his head in scrums. Add 10 tackles to that and you have a typically passionate performance from Jones.

6. Dan Lydiate: 7
Tackled his heart out as always, finishing with a tally of 21 – six more than anyone else in a red shirt. Had no influence on the game with ball in hand, but only touched it four times, so that is clearly not what he is told to worry about.

7. Sam Warburton: 7.5
A captain’s performance from Warburton, who was lithe with ball in hand to carry with good effect. Also provided a handy option at the lineout.

8. Taulupe Faletau: 6
Another who put in a mammoth defensive shift, but Faletau’s influence with ball in hand was hugely worrying, finishing with just four metres made from ten carries. Against a side with more line-breaking ball carriers than Australia, that sort of figure will be a real problem.

Replacements: 6
Gething Jenkins did well in the scrum but Bradley Davies and Rhodri Jones were both guilty of giving away crucial penalties in the last ten minutes with the game in the balance. Tipuric looked a livewire when he came on, begging the question: why wasn’t he brought on sooner?

AUSTRALIA

15. Israel Folau: 8.5
Millennium Stadium was somewhere he hadn’t always performed – a brace of tries later, that statement is no longer true. Impossible to keep him quiet.

14. Adam Ashley-Cooper: 7
A relatively quiet game in attack but his most important intervention came in holding up George North over the line. Seemed to have the big winger-come-centre-come-winger-again’s number all day.

13. Tevita Kuridrani: 8
Is there a faster-improving centre in world rugby right now? He’s been around for a while but seems to only now be busting tackles at will. Also possesses a deceptive turn of pace.

12. Christian Leali’ifano: 6
The least effective of Australia’s backs, which isn’t necessarily the end of the world, given how good they were, but that Leali’ifano couldn’t contribute will be disappointing for him.

11. Joe Tomane: 6.5
Looked dangerous whenever the ball made its way to him, but could never quite escape the grasps of the Welsh defence to any great effect.

10. Bernard Foley: 8.5
Brilliant stuff from Foley, who controlled the game, kicked everything from the tee, and knocked over the drop goal that put Australia ahead for the final time with calm precision.

9. Nick Phipps: 6.5
Another performance where Phipps proved he won’t let you down, but he also won’t run one in from seventy metres. Sadly for him, Genia is getting back to fitness and form – and he very much can do that.

1. James Slipper: 5
Was given a pretty torrid time at the set piece by Samson Lee, which needs to be his bread and butter. His influence around the park is negated by his failings there.

2. Saia Fainga’a: 7
Oversaw a good line-out performance from the Wallabies, and was subbed before the scrum disintegrated in the shadow of their own posts. 100% tackle rate, too.

3. Sekope Kepu: 5.5
Tough to give a positive rating to a prop who has conceded a penalty try. Not to say that it was all his fault, and he was, again, decent in the loose, but he still has to take some of the blame.

4. Sam Carter: 6.5
Australia don’t really seem to have any standout locks at the moment. Carter didn’t do anything wrong during his time on the pitch, but a turnover aside didn’t really do a great deal to catch the eye, either.

5. Rob Simmons: 6
A good source of line-out ball, but there was little else to comment on from Simmons’ performance – not an uncommon statement, sadly.

6. Sean McMahon: 6.5
Was a nuisance at the breakdown, securing three turnovers, but also conceded three penalties, so that essentially evens itself out. Otherwise it was a quieter performance than at Twickenham.

7. Michael Hooper: 8
Didn’t really get a chance to show his outrageous speed, but he was his side’s top tackler and barrelled his way over Dan Biggar before offloading to Folau for one of his brace. Almost single-handedly squashed Wales’ final charges with two thumping hits on Williams.

8. Ben McCalman: 6.5
An industrious shift from McCalman, who carried a lot of ball and made all of his tackles, but not really an eye-catching one in particular.

Replacements: 6.5
Will Skelton has a fearsome reputation but was well marshalled by the Welsh defence once he came on, while Will Genia provided good zip to the game as Phipps began to tire. None of the other subs really had a direct influence on the match but contributed to solid Wallabies defence in the final few minutes, with Horwill in particular haring about the park like a man possessed.

By Jamie Hosie
Follow Jamie on Twitter: @jhosie43

Photo by: Patrick Khachfe / Onside Images