diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/springframework/ws/client/core/WebServiceTemplate.java b/core/src/main/java/org/springframework/ws/client/core/WebServiceTemplate.java
index eb7f1ccb..932f4198 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/springframework/ws/client/core/WebServiceTemplate.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/springframework/ws/client/core/WebServiceTemplate.java
@@ -413,9 +413,8 @@ public class WebServiceTemplate extends WebServiceAccessor implements WebService
                     return handleFault(connection, request, response);
                 }
                 else {
-                    Object extracted = responseExtractor.extractData(response);
                     logResponse(request, response);
-                    return extracted;
+                    return responseExtractor.extractData(response);
                 }
             }
             else {
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/springframework/ws/transport/AbstractReceiverConnection.java b/core/src/main/java/org/springframework/ws/transport/AbstractReceiverConnection.java
index 8afb2ab4..75736128 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/springframework/ws/transport/AbstractReceiverConnection.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/springframework/ws/transport/AbstractReceiverConnection.java
@@ -47,6 +47,25 @@ public abstract class AbstractReceiverConnection extends AbstractWebServiceConne
         return responseOutputStream;
     }
 
+    public final void close() throws IOException {
+        try {
+            if (requestInputStream != null) {
+                requestInputStream.close();
+            }
+        }
+        finally {
+            onClose();
+        }
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Template method invoked from {@link #close()}. Default implementation is empty.
+     *
+     * @throws IOException if an I/O error occurs when closing this connection
+     */
+    protected void onClose() throws IOException {
+    }
+
     /**
      * Returns an iteration over all the header names this request contains. Returns an empty <code>Iterator</code> if
      * there areno headers.
@@ -89,6 +108,11 @@ public abstract class AbstractReceiverConnection extends AbstractWebServiceConne
             return getRequestHeaders(name);
         }
 
+        public void close() throws IOException {
+            // defer close, some SoapMessage implementations (Axis) lazy-initialize the SOAPMessage
+        }
+
+
     }
 
     /** Implementation of <code>TransportOutputStream</code> for sending-side connections. */
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/springframework/ws/transport/AbstractSenderConnection.java b/core/src/main/java/org/springframework/ws/transport/AbstractSenderConnection.java
index 8a4dabbe..76ef7fb8 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/springframework/ws/transport/AbstractSenderConnection.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/springframework/ws/transport/AbstractSenderConnection.java
@@ -52,6 +52,25 @@ public abstract class AbstractSenderConnection extends AbstractWebServiceConnect
         }
     }
 
+    public final void close() throws IOException {
+        try {
+            if (responseInputStream != null) {
+                responseInputStream.close();
+            }
+        }
+        finally {
+            onClose();
+        }
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Template method invoked from {@link #close()}. Default implementation is empty.
+     *
+     * @throws IOException if an I/O error occurs when closing this connection
+     */
+    protected void onClose() throws IOException {
+    }
+
     /** Indicates whether this connection has a response. */
     protected abstract boolean hasResponse() throws IOException;
 
@@ -109,6 +128,10 @@ public abstract class AbstractSenderConnection extends AbstractWebServiceConnect
             return getResponseHeaders(name);
         }
 
+        public void close() throws IOException {
+            // defer close, some SoapMessage implementations (Axis) lazy-initialize the SOAPMessage
+        }
+
     }
 
 }
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/springframework/ws/transport/http/CommonsHttpConnection.java b/core/src/main/java/org/springframework/ws/transport/http/CommonsHttpConnection.java
index 82ba9080..8d144b14 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/springframework/ws/transport/http/CommonsHttpConnection.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/springframework/ws/transport/http/CommonsHttpConnection.java
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@ import org.apache.commons.httpclient.Header;
 import org.apache.commons.httpclient.HttpClient;
 import org.apache.commons.httpclient.methods.ByteArrayRequestEntity;
 import org.apache.commons.httpclient.methods.PostMethod;
+
 import org.springframework.util.Assert;
 import org.springframework.ws.WebServiceMessage;
 import org.springframework.ws.transport.WebServiceConnection;
@@ -57,7 +58,7 @@ public class CommonsHttpConnection extends AbstractHttpSenderConnection {
         return postMethod;
     }
 
-    public void close() throws IOException {
+    public void onClose() throws IOException {
         postMethod.releaseConnection();
     }
 
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/springframework/ws/transport/http/HttpServletConnection.java b/core/src/main/java/org/springframework/ws/transport/http/HttpServletConnection.java
index 4f948950..1f381f65 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/springframework/ws/transport/http/HttpServletConnection.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/springframework/ws/transport/http/HttpServletConnection.java
@@ -16,7 +16,6 @@
 
 package org.springframework.ws.transport.http;
 
-import java.io.FilterInputStream;
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.io.InputStream;
 import java.io.OutputStream;
@@ -91,12 +90,7 @@ public class HttpServletConnection extends AbstractReceiverConnection
     }
 
     protected InputStream getRequestInputStream() throws IOException {
-        return new FilterInputStream(getHttpServletRequest().getInputStream()) {
-
-            public void close() throws IOException {
-                // defer close, some SAAJ implementations (Axis 1) lazy-initialize the SOAPMessage 
-            }
-        };
+        return getHttpServletRequest().getInputStream();
     }
 
     /*
@@ -115,7 +109,7 @@ public class HttpServletConnection extends AbstractReceiverConnection
         statusCodeSet = true;
     }
 
-    public void close() throws IOException {
+    public void onClose() throws IOException {
         if (!statusCodeSet) {
             getHttpServletResponse().setStatus(HttpTransportConstants.STATUS_ACCEPTED);
         }
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/springframework/ws/transport/http/HttpUrlConnection.java b/core/src/main/java/org/springframework/ws/transport/http/HttpUrlConnection.java
index 80671fbe..202e0b5b 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/springframework/ws/transport/http/HttpUrlConnection.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/springframework/ws/transport/http/HttpUrlConnection.java
@@ -55,7 +55,7 @@ public class HttpUrlConnection extends AbstractHttpSenderConnection {
         return connection;
     }
 
-    public void close() {
+    public void onClose() {
         connection.disconnect();
     }