Wales unable to back up historic feat as they suffer WXV2 thrashing

Wales women's WXV campaign kicked off with a 37-5 defeat to Australia

Wales women were unable to back up their first-ever win over Australia as the rampant Wallaroos ran in six tries during a 37-5 victory in the opening game of their WXV2 campaign in Cape Town.

Ioan Cunningham's side made history last week, defeating Australia for the first time in a warm-up match at Rodney Parade.

However, after a disrupted build-up that saw key prop Sisilia Tuipulotu unable to travel after visa problems before Kate Williams and Hannah Jones dropped out of the matchday squad late on, the Wallaroos ran riot in the second-half after a close opening 40.

The first-half followed the script from Newport last Friday, with the two teams looking evenly matched. At half-time, Wales trailed 10-5 - with hooker Carys Phillips having crossed from a maul in response to scores from Layne Morgan and Eva Karpani.

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In front of a disappointing crowd of just 291 at the DHL Stadium, Wales were no match for Australia in the second-half.

Maya Stewart crossed for Australia's third around the hour-mark, before Faitala Moleka went over from the restart.

Replacement Lori Cramer grabbed Australia's fifth, before Stewart helped herself to another while Molly Reardon was in the sin-bin for a high tackle.

Wales will now have to dust themselves down, with a match against Italy coming up on Friday.