Wales became the first Six Nations team to claim a Tri-Nations scalp this month as the Grand Slam winners beat Australia 21-18 in a thrilling encounter at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff on Saturday.

After losing to South Africa and New Zealand, Wales followed up their win over Canada with their first Tri-Nations scalp in three years, and only their third win over SANZAR nations in 34 games since the advent of professionalism 13 years ago.

Newly-crowned International Rugby Board Player of the Year Shane Williams and fullback Lee Byrne scored tries for Wales, Stephen Jones notching up 11 points through two penalties, a conversion and drop-goal.

Australia, who lost influential skipper Stirling Mortlock after two minutes following a collision with Jamie Roberts, scored tries through Brumbies lock Mark Chisholm and Digby Ioane, with Matt Giteau knocking over eight points.

Fittingly, it was international Player of the Year Shane Williams who kick-started proceedings, the diminutive wing crossing for a scintillating try after four minutes, the build-up for which had echoes of the form that took Wales to last season's Grand Slam title.

Williams made a break down midfield, and when tackled made a deft offload to man-of-the-match Byrne who passed to Roberts, the centre hauled down by Drew Mitchell five metres from the line.

Gareth Cooper saw the space out wide from the resulting ruck and threw out a huge pass that Byrne picked up from his ankles and quickly shipped on to Williams for his 44th career try and fourth against the Wallabies.

After being voted man of the match, Byrne said: "It's been a long time coming, we've been unlucky the last few games. We've worked hard in the last few weeks ... we're that close to beating the top teams, and hopefully we can push on now."

Williams said his welcome try was a mere bonus to their bigger aim of a win.

"I was looking for a try, but more importantly we were looking for a win," Williams, who admitted he had enjoyed an exciting week having been voted the IRB's Player of the Year, said.

"I couldn't have asked for more really, but it was a massive team effort. I was glad to be part of it."

The Australians hit back in the 14th minute, Chisholm pouncing on a misdirected Alun-Wyn Jones tap-down from a line-out, stepping inside Cooper and sprinting 60 metres to the line. Giteau kicked the easy conversion.

Giteau then kicked a 25th minute drop-goal after camping out in the Welsh half for a good few minutes had yielded not a decent sight of the whitewash.

From the restart, a spilled up-and-under from Byrne saw Ryan Cross motor away and into the Welsh 22, only to be hauled down by the covering Shane Williams and Tom Shanklin.

number eight Andy Powell then led the counter-attack back at the Wallabies, and when hooker Stephen Moore handled in a ruck, referee Alan Lewis had no hesitation in showing the Queenslander a yellow card while Stephen Jones kicked the penalty.

The Welsh handling became increasingly slick, with offloads aplenty, and Byrne crashed over for the team's second try after the ubiquitous Williams played him through the gap. Jones hit the conversion to hand Wales a 15-10 lead.

Australia were suddenly on the rack, Powell repeatedly testing their midfield defence, Martyn Williams spilling an offload from Cooper with the line at his mercy, and the pack being shunted off their own ball: half-time could not come fast enough.

Jones scuffed two easy penalties at the start of the second-half as Giteau pulled back three points for the visitors and began to marshal his troops well in midfield.

But the home side battened down the defensive hatches, repelling wave after wave of Australian attack, and Jones made amends for his earlier misses with a smartly-taken 67th minute drop-goal.

The Welsh pack then withstood a three-minute barrage on their own line, the Wallabies finally infringing to relieve the pressure.

Stephen Jones hit a second penalty in the 78th minute, while Australian wing Digby Ioane crossed for a late consolation try, Giteau missing the hastily-taken conversion.

Man of the match: You can probably take you pick from the two teams, with Matt Giteau displaying his usual brilliance and Nathan Sharpe providing the grunt up front for the Wallabies. Stephen Jones produced an assured display at flyhalf and Gareth Cooper also put his hand with his best performance this month. However, Lee Byrne gets our award after yet another barnstorming performance at fullback, solid on defence (except for a rare sill) and ever dangerous on attack.

Moment of the match: There were a couple of crucial moments. Stephen Moore's yellow card in the first half and a crucial turnover by Martyn Williams midway through the second half. However, the match-winning moment was Wales flyhalf Stephen Jones's 76th-minute penalty, which took the margin two scores beyond Australian and rendered Digby Ioane's late score meaningless.

Villain of the match: There is little doubt about this one. Stephen Moore's yellow card in the 27th minute saw his team go from 10-5 up, to trailing 10-15 in the 10 minutes he spent in the bin. Australia never recovered from that setback.

The scorers:

For Wales:
Tries: S Williams, Byrne
Con: S Jones
Pens: S Jones 2
DG: S Jones

For Australia:
Tries: Chisholm, Ioane
Con: Giteau
Pen: Giteau
DG: Giteau

Yellow card: Stephen Moore (Australia, 27 - repeated offences, not rolling away at tackle)

Teams:

Wales: 15 Lee Byrne, 14 Mark Jones, 13 Tom Shanklin, 12 Jamie Roberts, 11 Shane Williams, 10 Stephen Jones, 9 Gareth Cooper, 8 Andy Powell, 7 Martyn Williams, 6 Ryan Jones (captain), 5 Ian Gough, 4 Alun-Wyn Jones, 3 Adam Jones, 2 Matthew Rees, 1 Gethin Jenkins.
Replacements: 16 Richard Hibbard, 17 John Yapp, 18 Luke Charteris, 19 Dafydd Jones, 20 Martin Roberts, 21 James Hook, 22 Andrew Bishop.

Australia: 15 Drew Mitchell, 14 Peter Hynes, 13 Ryan Cross 12 Stirling Mortlock, 11 Digby Ioane, 10 Matt Giteau 9 Luke Burgess, 8 Richard Brown, 7 Phil Waugh, 6 Hugh McMeniman, 5 Nathan Sharpe, 4 Mark Chisholm, 3 Al Baxter, 2 Stephen Moore, 1 Benn Robinson.
Replacements: 16 Adam Freier, 17 Matt Dunning, 18 Dean Mumm, 19 George Smith, 20 Sam Cordingley, 21 Quade Cooper 22 Lote Tuqiri/Adam Ashley-Cooper.

Referee: Alan Lewis (Ireland)
Touch judges: Dave Pearson (England), Romain Poite (France)
TMO: Peter Allan (Scotland)

365

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