Hardy try clinches late Wales victory over Reds

Kieran Hardy came on for captain Gareth Davies to score the winning try against Queensland Reds

International tour: Queensland Reds v Wales

Queensland Reds (14) 35

Tries: Asiata 3, Grealy 2 Cons: O'Connor 5

Wales: (24) 36

Tries: Griffin, Grace, Dyer, Tshiunza, Tompkins, Hardy Cons: Costelow 3

Wales replacement scrum-half Kieran Hardy's 79th-minute try sealed a much-needed win for Warren Gatland's side in an 11-try thriller against Queensland Reds in Brisbane.

Wales had to cope with the late withdrawal of captain Cory Hill but managed to open up a 31-14 lead.

Former rugby league wing Regan Grace scored on his Wales debut with further tries from Archie Griffin, Rio Dyer, Christ Tshiunza and Nick Tompkins.

The Reds responded with a hat-trick of tries from hooker Richie Asiata and two scores from wing Mac Grealy to give the hosts a late lead.

But the last-gasp intervention of Hardy earned Wales their first victory since they defeated the Barbarians in another uncapped match in November 2023.

Gatland's side have lost nine internationals in a row, and will be hoping to avoid a record-equalling 10th when they are next in action against Fiji in Cardiff in November.

It has been a wretched year which has seen Wales slip to an all-time low of 11th in the world rankings, while they finished bottom of the Six Nations for the first time in 21 years and lost the Test series 2-0 in Australia.

But to finish this long campaign with any sort of victory will give this young Wales side a lift going into next season.

Late captain change

Lock Hill was due to captain the side, but pulled out of the game for "personal reasons" with scrum-half Gareth Davies taking over the leadership and Dafydd Jenkins coming into the starting side

Gatland had named Hill captain when the side for Friday's game was announced on Wednesday.

It was a controversial decision because of an incident in 2021 when Hill was named among a group of individuals who damaged a woman's house.

He was not charged by police, but said sorry at the time through a representative and apologised this week.

Only Jenkins, Cameron Winnett, Rio Dyer, Archie Griffin, Christ Tshiunza and Taine Plumtree survived from the starting side in Melbourne last weekend, while Grace, Kemsley Mathias, Evan Lloyd, Mackenzie Martin and Eddie James started in the red jersey for the first time.

Queensland were without their Australian internationals, with nine players in the Wallabies squad playing Georgia on Saturday, but they still fielded Australia fly-half James O'Connor, who had a great battle with impressive Wales number 10 Sam Costelow.

It was the first time Queensland had faced Wales since 1991, a team which featured Wallabies World Cup winning lock John Eales, who brought the ball out for kick-off 33 years later in front of a crowd of more than 23,000 at the Suncorp Stadium.

Amazing Grace

Wales started brightly with Griffin powering over for a first Wales try before Asiata was driven over in response.

Enter new boy Grace. The former St Helens star scored 89 tries during a rugby league career which saw him feature in three Grand Final-winning teams.

He switched codes in 2022, but ruptured his Achilles tendon before joining French Top 14 club Racing 92. However, he did not play for them at all after suffering an injury relapse six months later.

Now under contract with Bath, he played in friendlies against Leinster and Gloucester last season and was then called into Wales' squad, although was not involved in the 2-0 Test series defeat against the Wallabies

Given his chance, Grace made an almost immediate impression. A patient Wales attack forced the overlap on the left flank with wing Dyer popping up on the opposite side to give the the scoring pass. It was left to Grace to complete a sharp finish and Costelow converted.

Wales were on a roll and a surging break from Cardiff number eight Martin provided the platform for Costelow to find Dyer with a pinpoint kick.

Dragons wing Dyer was still going strong despite being involved in 17 out of 18 Wales games this season and completing the season with 31 matches in total.

The hosts battled back, and with Wales hooker Lloyd shown a yellow card as a punishment for the tourists' indiscipline, Asiata was driven over for his second score.

Numbers game

Wales coped with their numerical disadvantage easily with Tshiunza driven over from another attacking line-out to give the tourists a 10-point half-time lead.

Leicester flanker Tommy Reffell was an early second-half replacement for the injured Tshiunza, but the alteration did not stop Wales' attacking momentum.

An excellent 50/22 attacking kick from Costelow laid the foundation for centre Tompkins to ease over.

The determined Reds side demonstrated their attacking driving line-out with a third try for Asiata to start the fightback.

That continued with O'Connor pulling the strings and providing a flat pass to free wing Grealy, with the fly-half's conversion reducing the deficit to three points.

Wales fought back but could not score from a series of driving line-outs, with the Reds holding out before a breakaway try for Grealy created by powerful flanker Seru Uru.

That gave the hosts the lead, but Wales responded magnificently with a multi-phase move that was finished off by Hardy to finally give this squad something to celebrate before they start their summer holidays.

Wales head coach Warren Gatland: "I thought we showed some real resilience. The game looked comfortable on a couple of occasions.

"They kept coming back at us. I thought for me the most disappointing thing was our maul defence, something we pride ourselves on over the last 18 months.

"But that's probably due to some of the new boys coming in and some new combinations.

"When we're under a bit of pressure to have to go back and score, they showed some real character."

Queensland Reds: Jock Campbell (capt); Floyd Aubrey, Tim Ryan, Dre Pakeho, Mac Grealy; James O'Connor, Louis Werchon; Sef Fa'agase, Richie Asiata, Jeffrey Toomaga-Allen, Connor Vest, Ryan Smith, Seru Uru, John Bryant, Joe Brial.

Replacements: George Blake, Matt Gibbon, Massimo De Lutiis, Josh Canham, Connor Anderson, Will Cartwright, Mason Gordon, Lachie Anderson.

Wales: Cameron Winnett; Rio Dyer, Nick Tompkins, Eddie James, Regan Grace; Sam Costelow, Gareth Davies (capt); Kemsley Mathias, Evan Lloyd, Archie Griffin, Matthew Screech, Dafydd Jenkins, Christ Tshiunza, Taine Plumtree, Mackenzie Martin

Replacements: Efan Daniel, Corey Domachowski, Harri O'Connor, Dewi Lake, Tommy Reffell, Kieran Hardy, Ben Thomas, Mason Grady.

Sin-bin: E Lloyd 28