[Source: Planet Rugby]

Despite securing a 2-0 series victory over Wales courtesy of their 36-28 triumph in Melbourne, Wallabies head coach Joe Schmidt believe there is still plenty of room for improvement.

In a match in which the momentum ebbed and flowed throughout, Australia held a slight edge throughout although both sides crossed for four tries apiece.

Filipo Daugunu led the way with a brace for the Wallabies while Jake Gordon and Allan Alaalatoa also dotted down with Dewi Lake (2), Liam Williams and Rio Dyer scoring Wales‘ tries.

Fine start from Wallabies

Australia raced into a 17-0 lead by the 25th minute but Wales came back strongly and the match was still up for grabs at half-time with the Wallabies leading 23-14 at the interval.

“It was tough, bit of relief at the end there,” said Wallabies captain James Slipper. “It was scrappy from us for sure, it wasn’t our best game, but we got the result. There’s plenty to work on though.”

Schmidt echoed Slipper’s sentiments and said although he was happy with his team’s victory, there are still plenty of work-ons for his team.

“I’m relieved, but, boy, are we going to have to be a lot better than that,” he said.

Filipo Daugunu double helps Wallabies claim first series whitewash of Joe Schmidt era

“We made the most of a few chances, which was great … there’s some promising things we can anchor on and some things that are massive work-ons for us.

“We got out to 17-0, like we did last week when we got out to 13-0, then we let them back in. It is frustrating when you give teams access back into the game.”

Wales’ winless run continues

The result means Wales have now lost their last nine matches under the guidance of Warren Gatland and they are currently languishing in 11th position in World Rugby’s official rankings.

Although they did well to fight back after trailing 17-0 in the opening half, Wales continued to make a plethora of errors which proved costly in the end.

“We never gave up, we had a never-say-die attitude,” said Wales captain Lake.

“But obviously, we are a young team, and we don’t have enough experience really at the Test level. What matters is results and we are not giving ourselves those at the moment.”