Same old story, or do Wales have reasons to be optimistic?

Owen Williams made his first home start start for Wales

New style, new ambition, same old story?

On the face of it, that was the narrative emerging from Cardiff's Principality Stadium as Australia snuffed out Wales' experiment with a more expansive game to deliver a 13th consecutive win over Warren Gatland's side.

However, that wasn't the message from the home camp after a disappointing 29-21 defeat to start their autumn international series.

Gatland, one eye on the 2019 World Cup, insisted Welsh tactics were sound but mistakes - particularly in the first half - undid much of their good work.

So what were the lessons of another loss against the men in green and gold?

What went well?

Wales outflanked Australia several times in the opening half and scored an outstanding try through Scarlets wing Steff Evans.

The decision to pick Gloucester's Owen Williams as a ball-playing 12 alongside fly-half Dan Biggar kept Australia guessing, according to their coach Michael Cheika.

• Wales 21-29 Australia

• Davies injury does not look good

Scrum-half Gareth Davies' breaks were as much to do with the options Williams gave Wales as with his own predatory instincts and pace, said the Australian.

For his part, Gatland felt Williams' defence was also worthy of praise.

"I thought Owen Williams has done well, he'd defended well. He did a pretty good job defensively at set piece and that channel and the message was to keep our patience," he said.

"When we kept our patience and kept possession then we were able to shorten them up and that create some opportunities out wide.

"But there were too many occasion when we've tried to force it and it's created a turnover. On the whole I thought there were some real positives from an attacking perspective."

What went wrong?

Mistakes. Wales made a lot of them.

Their 16 handling errors were not the whole story either.

The real damage in the first half came when they turned over possession from restarts after scoring - something they did three times.

The most damaging of those came after Leigh Halfpenny had kicked them to within four points with two minutes of the half remaining.

Evans' sliced clearance allowed Bernard Foley to set up an an attacking platform from which captain Michael Hooper eventually crossed for the Wallabies' third try.

Instead of 17-13 at half-time it was 22-13. Big difference. Big hill to climb.

"We were the architects of our own downfall, because of us not being accurate enough in the first half and not things that they created," said Gatland.

"Given the potency they've got as an attacking team we made it easy for them.

"Our exit plays gave them soft possession in our 22 and put us under a lot of pressure against a side of that quality.

"We probably tried to force a few too many passes and offloads but that's what we're encouraging the players to do and that time together and decision making will improve over the next few weeks."

Kurtley Beale's try snuffed out Wales' revival in Cardiff

Beale's daylight robbery

Wales dominated the early stages of the second half, and thanks to Halfpenny's boot were within six points and pressing hard when Kurtley Beale struck.

He stripped possession from Evans and sprinted clear from 65 metres to score between the posts just after the hour mark.

It was a brutal body blow for Wales, with Gatland claiming he felt Wales could have gone on to win had it not been for that incident.

But he did not bite on suggestions Beale might have knocked the ball on.

"I'll ask, but it's one of those things I'm not going to dwell on," he said.

"As the game went on we got stronger and if Kurtley Beale had not scored that freakish try, there was a good chance we could have gone on and won the game."

Is there an Australian hoodoo?

Not according to Gatland and captain Alun Wyn Jones.

The big second-row was the only member of the Wales squad who has played in a winning Welsh team against the Wallabies.

With Wales again drawn against the Wallabies in the World Cup in 2019, the question of the losing run was inevitable and Gatland was adamant.

"I don't think there was anything that showed today that there is mental block about playing Australia," he said.

"No one is thinking remotely about a mental block about playing Australia. That never entered their minds.

"The focus now is on the World Cup and picking and exposing some young players and giving them experience and opportunities and developing a game - different types of styles that we want to play.

"If we want to be more direct we can do that, if we want to play front line or out the back we can do that - we don't look on that in terms of those defeats.

"We have Australia in our group and we feel that with time together in terms of the next two years and camps and preparing for that, we'll go into that group with a lot of confidence of winning that group."

Wales are likely to face New Zealand and South Africa without Lions centre Jonathan Davies if his ankle injury is as serious as feared

What now?

Wales handed debuts to Leon Brown, Sam Cross and Owen Watkin against Australia and Gatland will ring the changes for the visit of Georgia on 18 November.

But we can expect the same in terms of style - just different players.

Georgia's emphatic 54-22 win over Canada on Saturday suggests they will be no pushovers.

Watkin and Brown could get starts and Rhys Priestland - so impressive for Bath this season - is likely to make his 49th appearance for Wales.

"I think we'll make a lot of changes for next week," confirmed New Zealander Gatland.

"A lot of the younger boys will get a chance and some players that have come back into the squad after being away will get an opportunity.

"And there's a good chance for players who go out next week and perform and play well to put themselves in contention for the All Blacks, so that's important from that aspect."

That final statement brings things into a sharp focus for Wales and their supporters.

The All Blacks come to Wales on 25 November after handing out a 38-18 beating to France in Paris on Saturday.

And their winning run against Wales - going back to 1953 - makes the Wallabies' record look like a blip.