WALES may have been lamented a familiar tale against Australia last Saturday but Hallam Amos was thankful for a happier acrobatic ending against the Wallabies.

The Dragons speedster dived for the left corner, at the ‘Glanmor’s Gap’ end of Principality Stadium in the closing stages of the opening autumn Test against the Aussies in 2016.

Amos was not only denied by a foot in touch but landed heavily on his shoulder. He played on but a scan revealed that an operation was needed and his 2016/17 was ended on November 5.

The 23-year-old from Cross Ash made his return to the Test scene against the Wallabies last weekend and was presented with a carbon copy in the 80th minute of a 13th successive loss to the men in gold.

Jonathan Davies put a grubber kick through, he gathered an awkward bounce and, despite the admirable efforts of defender Marika Koroibete, dotted down with his body in the air above the touchline.

After lengthy deliberation by the TMO, who wanted to check he hadn’t dropped the ball, Amos had his second international try, adding to his World Cup score against Uruguay at the other end of the stadium in Cardiff.

“Exactly a year later, exactly the same corner,” he said. “It’s that famous Al Pacino speech of it being a game of inches and last year I was in touch, this time I was just above the touchline.

“It was nice to score this one, but I thought I was in touch! I didn’t think that I dropped it, which was apparently what was being checked by the TMO, I felt I controlled it all the way through.

“It happened so fast that I was conscious that I was maybe in touch… I think that I should probably celebrate a bit more next time to put it in their heads that I scored.

“As a winger we are expected to score those tries and it’s good that the practice came through and it counted on the weekend.”

The finish was a timely one given the hot competition for places in Wales’ back three, even in the absence of injured Lions ace George North.

Amos was on the bench against the Wallabies after Steff Evans, Liam Williams and Leigh Halfpenny got the nod, while Alex Cuthbert is waiting in the wings.

“Steff has been on fire this year and they have four Lions in the back three. It is really competitive and that drives standards,” said Amos.

“It’s good to have these players on the training pitch to test yourself against and then come game time you have to play well or it’s your chance gone.”

The Dragons man is pushing hard for a start this weekend when Georgia head to Cardiff and, if he gets the nod, hopes to have plenty of ball in hand after Wales impressed with their attacking intent against the Aussies.

“We have tried to play with width for a few years now,” he said. “It helps having Owen Williams, who is 10, at inside centre because he has got great vision.

“We saw elements of that. There was definitely the shoots of a new system coming in.

“It’s better for back-three players. The likes of Steff Evans and Liam Williams had their hands on the ball a bit more, which is what we want to see.”

And Amos doesn’t expect the men in Wales’ ‘deep anthracite’ change strip to be the only ones playing with enterprise this weekend.

Georgia, ranked 12th in the world, are knocking at the Six Nations door thanks to their imposing pack but the wing/full-back knows there is more to their game.

“They get a bad rep with people talking about their big pack, which is definitely true and they bullied Canada (last week), but they also have some good players across their back line,” said Amos.

“They will also bring a kicking game to us – they scored from a cross-field kick at the weekend and an acrobatic try for their 15 (after a grubber through) – so it will be a different challenge to Australia.”

Saturday will be the first time Wales have played Georgia but the teams will look horns again in the 2019 World Cup in Japan.