Australia held on with a one point lead to win the third Test against Wales 20-19 and complete a series whitewash of the Six Nations Grand Slammers.

Wales took the lead in the final quarter but they conceded a penalty and Berrick Barnes kicked the matchwinning penalty.

Tries to Australia's Rob Horne and Wales No.8 Ryan Jones were the only bright spots in an otherwise tepid performance by both teams.

The match was punctuated often by South Africa referee Craig Joubert's whistle with both teams struggling to stem the tide of ill discipline and errors despite clear, dry conditions.

Man of the match Berrick Barnes kicked five penalties for the home team, while Leigh Halfpenny scored 14 points for the visitors.

After entertaining encounters in the first two tests in Brisbane and Melbourne, the third test in Sydney failed to reach the same heights.

Both teams traded penalties in an uninspiring first half, often punctuated by errors, with referee Joubert blowing 14 penalties in the opening 40 minutes.

Australia opened the scoring in the 4th minute through a Barnes penalty before Halfpenny, who appeared to injure his shoulder in the first minute, leveled the scores at 3-3 in the 8th minute.

Parity was short lived as a sloppy restart by Wales handed Barnes another easy penalty shot for the Wallabies to restore the lead.

Wales was next to benefit from the referee's whistle with Joubert penalizing Australia for collapsing the scrum, leaving Halfpenny with a seemingly difficult attempt from half way to level the scores at 6-6, which the impressive fullback handled with ease.

The Welsh failed again to secure the restart with lock Alun Wyn Davies fumbling the kick off, before prop Gethin Jenkins was penalized for not rolling away at the ruck to present Barnes with another easy penalty attempt.

Wales scrumhalf Mike Phillips finally breathed some life into the contest when he opted to take a quick tap from a penalty and tested the Wallabies defense. He was rewarded for his intent a few phases later with Joubert awarding another penalty in front of the posts, for Halfpenny to convert.

Wales suffered a blow on the half hour when captain Sam Warburton left the field with concussion after a heavy knock and was replaced by 22-year-old Justin Tipuric.

Australia center Pat McCabe was also forced from the field with a broken nose and was replaced by Queensland Reds center Anthony Fainga'a.

Shortly after, Barnes converted his fourth penalty of the match in the 38th minute to give the Wallabies a 12-9 half time lead.

The second half saw glimpses of more attacking intent by both teams with Kurtley Beale making a line break before his chip kick was fielded by Wales winger George North, who launched a counterattack with flyhalf Rhys Priestland.

Priestland kicked ahead with Wallabies winger Digby Ioane forced to carry the ball into his own in-goal area and concede a scrum, 5 meters from the Wallabies goal line.

Wales made the most of the rare attacking opportunity with No.8 Ryan Jones barging over under the posts in the 61st minute to give Wales the lead for the first time in the match. Halfpenny's conversion extended the lead to 16-12.

Australia hit back almost immediately with Barnes breaking the line, a few phases before Beale's pass found Rob Horne, who did well to hold off Wales center Jonathan Davies and score in the corner. Barnes' conversion attempt missed, leaving the Wallabies narrowly ahead, 17-16.

Wales regained the lead in the 71st minute with another Halfpenny penalty goal but the impressive Barnes edged the Wallabies ahead for good with his fifth penalty of the match to give Australia victory in front of a capacity crowd of 42,889.

Australia won the opening test 27-19 at Brisbane and the second test in Melbourne 25-23 last week.

Final Score Australia 20 (12) Wales 19 (9).

Scorers

Match Officials
Referee: Craig Joubert (South Africa)
Assistant referees: Jaco Peyper (South Africa), Jonathon White (New Zealand)
Television match official: Vinny Munro (New Zealand)

Teams

Australia

15. Kurtley Beale, 14. Adam Ashley-Cooper, 13. Rob Horne, 12. Pat McCabe, 11. Digby Ioane, 10. Berrick Barnes, 9. Will Genia, 8. Wycliff Palu, 7. David Pocock (c), 6. Scott Higginbotham, 5. Nathan Sharpe, 4. Sitaleki Timani, 3. Sekope Kepu, 2. Tatafu Polota Nau, 1. Benn Robinson.

Replacements: 16. Stephen Moore, 17. Ben Alexander, 18. Rob Simmons, 19. Dave Dennis, 20. Michael Hooper, 21. Nic White, 22. Anthony Fainga'a.

Wales

15. Leigh Halfpenny, 14. Alex Cuthbert, 13. Jonathan Davies, 12. Ashley Beck, 11. George North, 10. Rhys Priestland, 9. Mike Phillips, 8. Gethin Jenkins, 7. Matthew Rees, 6. Adam Jones, 5. Bradley Davies, 4. Alun Wyn Jones, 3. Dan Lydiate, 2. Sam Warburton (c), 1. Ryan Jones .

Replacements: 16. Ken Owens, 17. Paul James, 18. Luke Charteris, 19. Justin Tipuric, 20. Rhys Webb, 21. James Hook, 22. Scott Williams.