Wales lose to Australia

The Welsh had ridden their luck to lead 6-3 heading into the last half hour, but a yellow card for Leigh Halfpenny ignited the Wallabies' attack as they ran in three quick tries to take charge of the match.

Wales pulled one back through Rhys Priestland, but the Australians' defence held firm until the clock ran into the red.

But there was still time for one last move, however, which ended with the ball being spun out wide to Williams, who cut through the defence, pumped his fists as he crossed the line, and ended the match with a forward flip as he touched down his 58th and final try in international rugby.

Before the match all the focus was on Williams, who was afforded the honour of coming out onto the pitch ahead of the team to receive a huge standing ovation on the occasion of his 87th and final match for his country.

The scrappy first half failed to play into the hands of the 34-year-old, however, with scrappy work on both sides giving few clear-cut opportunities other than a seventh minute penalty for the hosts that Priestland landed brilliantly.

Williams did manage to make a critical intervention, however, when the Wallabies finally broke free on the half-hour mark, just moments after James O'Connor had tugged a simple penalty off to the left.

Australia regained the ball and Winger Lachie Turner did brilliantly to get the ball down one-handed in the corner, but the video referee ruled that Williams had hauled him into touch the tiniest fraction of a second before the ball was touched down.

The decision could just as easily have gone the other way, but Wales pounced on their lucky break to double the lead through another penalty, though O'Connor pulled three points back with the last kick of the half as he slotted a 35m penalty to make up for his earlier miss.

The Australians continued to probe as the second half began, and their toil looked to have paid dividends when O'Connor kicked himself through and looked certain to touch down for a try.

Leigh Halfpenny, in desperation, tackled him before he got to the ball and earned a yellow card, though seemed to have saved a certain try.

It turned out to be bad value, however: the Wallabies took a tap penalty rather than going for goal, and within two minutes Will Genia broke through to score.

Five minutes later O'Connor - who had just hit the post with the simplest of penalties - unleashed a perfect long pass to Turner, and there was no doubt this time as he touched down.

With Halfpenny just seconds from coming back on the Welsh defence was found wanting once again, and this time Berrick Barnes sliced through the red shirts to touch down under the posts.

At 24-6 with a quarter of an hour left the match looked over, but Wales hit back as Priestland defied three tackles to score and inspire a desperate final 12 minutes.

The Australians were imperious in defence, giving nothing away until the dying moments when their defence failed to regroup after a penalty, allowing the Welsh backs to spin the ball out to Williams to score with the last move of the match - and of his glittering international career.