Wales great Barry John said the Australia duo of Matt Giteau and Quade Cooper had provided his compatriots with a "masterclass" after steering the Wallabies' to a 33-12 Test victory.

Fly-half Giteau and inside centre Cooper were superb on Saturday as the Wallabies ended 2009 with an emphatic win over Wales at the Millennium Stadium.

The quality of their play was not lost on John, himself one of rugby union's greatest outside-halves.

"The Wallabies won this game for a number of reasons, but principally because they were so superior in the key 10-12 axis, where Matt Giteau and Quade Cooper totally and utterly ran the show," John wrote in his column for the Wales on Sunday newspaper.

"The duo displayed an invention, sense of purpose and quality of kicking which we (Wales) lacked," proclaimed John, the pinnacle of whose relatively brief yet brilliant six-year Test career came with his starring role on the victorious British and Irish Lions tour of New Zealand in 1971.

"In modern rugby, there is so much kicking that you have to have a couple of proper playmakers with real vision.

"That Australian duo were streets ahead of our own 10-12 axis (Stephen Jones and Jonathan Davies), controlling the pace, tempo, direction and flow of the game.

"When they chose to run, they did it expertly. Their variety of passing was splendid, their kicking pegged us back in the wrong areas of the field.

"Those two didn't just punt the ball aimlessly down field as so many others do, they kicked with precision and purpose.

"Giteau and Cooper produced a masterclass."

John added Wales coach Warren Gatland "has to learn a lesson from this and revert to the sort of 10-12 partnership which served us so well in winning the (Six Nations) grand slam in 2008," when James Hook and Gavin Henson were in the key positions.

Henson is currently on 'extended leave' from regional side the Ospreys and doubts remain over whether he will return in January. Hook played on Saturday but at full-back.

"We miss Henson badly," said John. "But whether Gavin is back or not, Gatland has simply got to move Hook closer to the action where he can become involved again in some of the key decision-making."

AFP

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