Australia 46–22 Wales — Semi-final, 2000 Rugby League World Cup
19 Nov 2000 · McAlpine Stadium, Huddersfield, England · Attendance: 8,114
Data last verified: 11 August 2026.
Semi-final, 2000 Rugby League World Cup: Australia 46–22 Wales, at McAlpine Stadium, Huddersfield, England on 19 Nov 2000.
Scorers
| Australia | Tries: Fittler (2); Lockyer (2); Fletcher; Gower; Kennedy; 2 further tries — scorers not identified in any source found Goals: Lockyer (4/7); Girdler (1/3) |
| Wales | Tries: Watson; Tassell; Briers Goals: Harris (4/4) Drop goals: Briers (2) |
This result sent Australia into the Final against New Zealand.
Teams
| Australia | Wales | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Darren Lockyer | Fullback | Iestyn Harris (c) | 1 |
| 2 | Wendell Sailor | Wing | Chris Smith | 2 |
| 3 | Matthew Gidley | Centre | Jason Critchley | 3 |
| 4 | Ryan Girdler | Centre | Kris Tassell | 4 |
| 5 | Adam MacDougall | Wing | Anthony Sullivan | 5 |
| 6 | Brad Fittler (c) | Stand off/Five eighth | Lee Briers | 6 |
| 7 | Brett Kimmorley | Scrum half/Half back | Ian Watson | 7 |
| 8 | Shane Webcke | Prop forward | Anthony Farrell | 8 |
| 9 | Craig Gower | Hooker | Keiron Cunningham | 9 |
| 10 | Michael Vella | Prop forward | Paul Moriarty | 10 |
| 11 | Gorden Tallis | Second row | Justin Morgan | 11 |
| 12 | Bryan Fletcher | Second row | Paul Highton | 12 |
| 13 | Scott Hill | Loose forward/Lock forward | Chris Morley | 13 |
| Substitutes | ||||
| Interchange | Trent Barrett | Wes Davies | Interchange | |
| Interchange | Robbie Kearns | Paul Atcheson | Interchange | |
| Interchange | Ben Kennedy | John Devereux | Interchange | |
| Interchange | Nathan Hindmarsh | David Luckwell | Interchange | |
| Chris Anderson | Coach | Clive Griffiths | ||
Match officials
| Referee | Russell Smith (Castleford) — single-sourced |
| Player of the match | Keiron Cunningham (Wales) — single-sourced |
Match report
Australia overcame a fierce Welsh challenge at Huddersfield, trailing 20-8 early before rallying to win 46-22 and reach a fourth straight World Cup final. Wales's Keiron Cunningham was named player of the match despite the loss. Two of Australia's seven tries have no identified scorer in any source found — rugbyleagueproject.org's own breakdown accounts for only 38 of the 46 points, and no other source names the missing scorers, so this gap is shown honestly rather than guessed.