Wales were left broken hearted after suffering a gut wrenching defeat to Australia with the last kick of the game by super-sub Mike Harris snatching the Wallabies a 25-23 victory at Etihad Stadium in Melbourne.
In a pulsating encounter, the lead changed hands on 10 occasions as Leigh Halfpenny and Berrick Barnes exchanged kicks at goal.
Wales were just 30 seconds away from picking up their first win on Australian soil since 1969 but a rolling maul was brought down to give Harris the chance to clinch the series for Australia. With the hooter having already sounded, Harris booted over the penalty to crush Welsh hopes of a famous victory.
The Baby Blacks gained revenge over the Wales Under 20s side in the Junior World Championship Semi Final with a 30-6 victory. The Wales side included new Dragons signing Tom Prydie alongside recalled centre Jack Dixon with Ieuan Jones and Jonathan Evans on the bench.
The young Dragons became the first team to beat New Zealand in the five years of this tournament, winning 9-6 in the Pool stages, but the reigning champions were too strong on this occasion, scoring four tries to nil.
Dragons wing Tom Prydie kicked 2 early penalties as Wales raced into a 6-0 lead but New Zealand came back strongly with 2 kicks of their own before pulling away in the second half.
Wales Under 20 head coach Danny Wilson said, "We are proud of the boys, there was no lack of effort but at the end of the day, we are disappointed. We were beaten by a better side on the day, their breakdown was better than ours, but we certainly didn't perform as we have in our other matches in the tournament either. Our accuracy was quite poor, we didn't take the opportunities we had, whereas New Zealand took theirs. We had a real go at playing some rugby in the second half, but again, we weren't accurate enough to put pressure on a good team.
"The score line is far from a disgrace against the four times champions, but the players have already stated they are determined to go out next week and win our final match to finish third in the world. That is something on other Welsh team has done and we will prepare as well as we have done for every other game in order to do that."
Wales Under 20s will now face Argentina in the third place play-off on Friday (4:30pm), the day before the senior side face their final test against Australia on Saturday morning (6:00am)
