Wales 21 Australia 18

WORLD player of the year Shane Williams weaved his magic to leave Australia spellbound. But Wales’ chief sorcerer now has a mercurial apprentice.

Lee Byrne confirmed his status as Wales’ best full back since the legendary JPR Williams bowed out of Test rugby almost 28 years ago.

Williams led the tributes after Byrne’s masterclass helped RBS 6 Nations champions Wales restore a small degree of battered northern hemisphere pride by defeating Australia 21-18.

It avoided an 11-Test whitewash for European countries against the Tri-Nations heavyweights as Wales carved out their first victory over a southern hemisphere super-power since 2005 – at the 11th attempt.

They also climbed above England to claim fifth place in the International Rugby Board rankings.

The statistics were merely a sideshow after try-scorers Williams and Byrne commanded centre-stage to leave a Millennium Stadium full house breathless.

Williams was everywhere, conjuring attacking threats from left-wing, right-wing, scrum-half, fly-half and inside centre at various points of an epic encounter.

His 44th Test try, a classic score that he started and finished, will linger long in the memory. It was so good, Williams might never add a better one to his glittering collection.

Typically, the move also involved Byrne – and centre Jamie Roberts, who had suffered a fractured skull just two minutes earlier following a sickening collision with Stirling Mortlock that ended the Australian skipper’s afternoon.

The full extent of Roberts’ remarkable resilience – he continued until almost halfway through the first period – was not apparent to his team-mates until he texted them from hospital two hours later.

He was detained overnight and, although he is predicted to be fit for the Six Nations opener against Scotland, for sheer courage alone, Roberts deserved to share headline billing with Williams and Byrne.

While Williams teased and tormented the Wallabies, so Byrne excelled in every aspect of a full-back’s art – rocksolid defence, prodigious kicking, fearless counter-attacking and running angles that left his audience gasping.

It almost defies belief that little more than a year ago, Byrne was not deemed good enough for a place in the Wales World Cup squad.

‘‘I don’t think there is anyone better at the moment,’’ said his Ospreys colleague Williams.