Also on the book for Wales, in a series that had more than a hint of a warm up for Rugby World Cup 2007 in the air, came Canada in the Friday night game. The Pacific Islands completed the bill as the representative side combining the collective talents of Fiji, Samoa and Tonga, made their debut against Wales.

The tournament also saw the new Wales Coach, Gareth Jenkins, make his home international bow at the Millennium Stadium having taken charge of his first two matches away in Argentina.

Stephen Jones led the team out as Wales Captain for the very first time under Jenkins’s stewardship having been appointed Captain a month earlier; Jones had led Wales once before, at the Millennium Stadium against England in August 2003 in the Investec Challenge.

Wales’s opening match saw of the 2006 Invesco Perpetual Series saw them pitted against Australia once more. Having seen off the Wallabies with a 24-22 victory the previous autumn and consigned the run of eighteen years without a win to the dustbin of history, expectation was high that Wales would pick up from where they had left off at the end of November 2005.

Wales fielded a team comprising of the majority of the Grand Slam-winning RBS Six Nations side of the previous year with many of those players now recovered from injury. The match resulted in an enthralling 29-29 draw, the first tie between the two teams in ninety-eight years of international test matches.

Australia dominated the first half of play and Wales barely saw the ball during the opening twenty minutes as the Wallabies led 17-6 at the end of the opening quarter. The visitors were virtually untouchable with 64% of the possession and 84% territory. Wales lost their new Captain Stephen Jones after just twenty-three minutes to a knee injury but Wales clawed their way back into contention thanks to a Shane Williams try. The hosts trailed just 16-17 at the interval.

A rejuvenated Wales put Australia under pressure in the second half, taking a 26-17 lead through the boot of James Hook and a try-scoring effort from Martyn Williams. Australia soon after replied with a second try from Cameron Shepherd and a superb score from man-of-the-match Chris Latham that put the Wallabies back in front. New star Hook leveled matters after slotting over a thirty metre penalty four minutes from time and although chances presented themselves for both teams neither was able to grind out a win.

In this opening encounter Australia’s domination of Wales during the first half was impressive. Looking slightly shaky after Wales’s impressive restart the Wallabies were able to pull the score back in their favour due to the outstanding play from Chris Latham, who tore through five Welsh defenders on the left wing to score his remarkable try. Matt Giteau also impressed for the Wallabies in this initial clash.

A week later, Wales met the Pacific Islands for the very first time; a representative side comprising of the Island nations of Fiji, Samoa and Tonga, with ex-Wales fullback Shane Howarth amongst their coaching staff.

Wales broke a run of six games without a win as they overcame a disjointed Islanders side in a 38-20 victory with a second string side. Wales were gifted two interception tries by the inexperienced Islanders as Mark Jones, James Hook, Kevin Morgan, Lee Byrne and Ceri Sweeney all crossed the line. Fly half Sweeney enjoyed a personal haul of eighteen points including one of the five Welsh tries. Wales went 10-0 up with sixteen minutes played.

Hook soon after intercepted a pass from their No.10 Tisi Pisi and sprinted away towards the South Stand for his first home Welsh try. Kevin Morgan burst through to score on the half hour mark and with Ceri Sweeney in fine form Wales's lead was stretched to 24-0. The Pacific Islanders broke onto the scoreboard following a spell of pressure and robust tackling on Wales; prop Justin Va’a broke down the blindside from a line-out and managed to touch down, despite a double tackle, taking the score to 24-5.

Another wayward pass was later intercepted by Byrne, who scored under the posts as Sweeney landed the conversion on the stroke of half-time. The Islanders scored soon after the interval with a second try, bringing the score back to 31-10 in a spirited fightback. However, Sweeney soon added a try of his own and converted his effort, which was followed by a penalty for the visitors. An Islanders try took the scores to 38-20 as the game headed into the final quarter and as both teams were unable to add any further points, Wales secured a win for the first time in nine months, the first of Jenkins’s tenure.

The Pacific Islands made their international debut in 2004, losing all test matches against rugby giants Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. In the autumn of 2006 the Pacific Islanders also clashed against Scotland and Ireland. In the match at Murrayfield a four try scoring effort was not enough to overcome the Scots as they finished eventual winners on 34-22. The Pacific Islands team incurred a greater losing deficit against the Irish at Lansdowne Road. An eight-try rout saw the Pacific Islanders defeated 61-17 heralding the end to an unsuccessful Northern Hemisphere tour.

Wales met Canada in the third match of the 2006 Invesco Perpetual Series. With a further clash against New Zealand only a week away in the series, the match gave Gareth Jenkins a chance to give his potential Wales v New Zealand starting line-up the opportunity for a run through. Wales overpowered Canada 61-26 in this the ninth meeting between the two nations. Wales notched up an impressive nine tries, with rising star James Hook converting eight of the scores.

The visitors scored first after sloppy Welsh play granted them a penalty but Gareth Thomas soon made up for his team's early complacency and crossed the Canadian line. Another penalty from Canada narrowed the deficit but fancy footwork from Shane Williams gifted Wales their second try. With a third penalty conversion for the Canucks the Welsh lead was once more reduced but Matthew Rees went over for Wales’s third try.

The Canadians, refusing to surrender to Welsh pressure, secured a drop goal soon after but with a penalty try awarded to Wales the Canucks trailed by 28-12 as the half-time whistle went. Wales started strongly on the resumption of the match as Dwayne Peel secured a try within five minutes of the restart.

Under increasing pressure Canada’s defence buckled to allow Wales to attain two tries in three minutes, both courtesy of Jonathan Thomas. The Canadians grabbed a consolatory try soon after but replacement Ceri Sweeney secured a score in kind after less than ten minutes of being on the pitch. Mike Pyke grabbed another try for the visitors before Tom Shanklin brought the try-scoring to an end with his effort late on. The final scoreline would give Wales confidence entering their initial Rugby World Cup match in Nantes but despite the tiredness that crept into the Canadian team, their brave refusal to concede defeat must be acknowledged.

Wales capped the 2006 Invesco Perpetual Series with the aforementioned clash against New Zealand. As had happened the year previously, they incurred a similar defeat as witnessed in the previous series, going down 10-45 this time at the hands of the All Blacks. This was Wales’s first defeat of the series having triumphed over Canada and the Pacific Islands and achieving a sensational draw with Australia. For the second consecutive fixture New Zealand put five tries past the Welsh defence, including a hat-trick for wing Sitiveni Sivivatu.

The All Blacks secured their first score after just four minutes and continued the scoring to stretch their half-time lead to 28-3. James Hook, Gethin Jenkins and Alix Popham came onto the field after the intermission as Wales made a comeback.

They were aided in this counter-attack by the sin-binning of the New Zealand captain Richie McCaw. A drive from a line-out gave Wales a try but although the score brought the Millennium Stadium to its feet the All Blacks proved too strong. Sivivatu gained his final try and late on a penalty try was awarded to the tourists.