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Wales player ratings vs Canada | 2021 Summer Tests

By Ian Cameron
Jonah Holmes scores his first try Wales /Getty

Wales player ratings: Anything other than a convincing victory for Wayne Pivac’s Wales against Canada was going he perceived as sub-par given the relatively callow side fielded by the North Americans.

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It was maybe the weakest Canadian performance in recent memory, and barring a few brighter moments, did little more than slow down the Welshmen for most of the eighty minutes.

WALES PLAYER RATINGS:
1 NICKY SMITH – 7.5
The emergence of Wyn Jones has come at a cost for the Osprey loosehead, who missed Guinness Six Nations selection this year. Scrummaged well against a relatively solid Canadian setpiece and bagged his third Test try.

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2 ELLIOT DEE – 7
Great lineout service and one of a number of forwards to barrel over as the game disintegrated into an all-you-can-eat buffet.

3 DILLON LEWIS – 7.5
Destructor in chief of the Canadian scrum when it did start to creak. A few nice carries in the loose and a jackal turnover to his name.

4 BEN CARTER – 8
One of a number of debutants that impressed. The 20-year-old excelled at the lineout and proved more than useful around the park.

5 WILL ROWLANDS – 7
The giant Wasp found himself in space inside the 22 and for a moment an unlikely try might have been on, until he hit the sinking sand. He’d get another go before halftime and picked a try-scoring line that would make Scott Gibbs proud. Very solid.

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6 ROSS MORIARTY – 7
A Lion in 2017, injury meant Moriarty didn’t feature in this year’s Guinness Six Nations, and he’ll be eager to climb back up Wales back row pecking order this summer. Made inroads around the ruck and had all his own way in contact.

7 JAMES BOTHAM – 7
One of the breakthrough players at the Autumn Nations Cup, Botham hardly featured in Pivac’s victorious Six Nations campaign. Rewarded for his supporting work with a 116h minute try to cap a robust performance for the Cardiff man.

8 AARON WAINWRIGHT – 7
Made the most of his early carries, regularly beating defenders as the game loosened up.

9 TOMOS WILLIAMS – 8
Mugged the visitors with a smart tap-and-go for the 5-pointer to scrub out Canada’s try-scoring start. Scored two tries and beat seven defenders inside 52 minutes in a performance that could very easily have won MOTM.

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10 CALLUM SHEEDY – 8
Building on an outstanding couple of season, both domestically and internationally, Sheedy was all pops, breaks and offloads. At times guilty of trying to play too much but it was clear that the Canadians were struggling with the tempo he was dictating.

11 TOM ROGERS – 7
He won the praise of fellow Scarlets’ teammate, Jonathan Davies, earlier this week, but it was a difficult start for the debutant, who was unable to stop his Canadian opposite number Kainoa Lloyd barging over, albeit on an unsympathetic covering angle. Ran the ball into touch a few moments later but grew into the game after that and exploded up the wing in the second-half to give fans a glimpse of his talents. Nearly caught napping for Lloyd’s second attempt at the line, though he was saved by a knock-on.

12 JONATHAN DAVIES – 7
Smarting from his Lions snub, ‘Foxy’ comes into the July Test window with a point to prove. Was a calm head in midfield and his uncompromisingly direct running lines were as much of a handful for the Canucks as the razzle-dazzle of his peers.

13 UILISI HALAHOLO – 7
Was moved to the wing when Halfpenny went off to make way for Tompkins. Looked to Test the Canadian tackles early and a beautiful cut-out pass nearly put Tom Rogers through. Strong over the ball and his stepping caused all sort of issues for the men in black.

14 JONAH HOLMES – 8
With a remarkable strike rate for Dragons in the PRO14, you’d have expected Holmes was eyeing the fixture as an opportunity to open his international try-scoring account and in the end it took just 20 minutes to come. His second took another 62 minutes but a strong performance in a position of real depth for Wales.

15 LEIGH HALFPENNY – NA
Halfpenny described the prospect of getting his 100th cap as a dream come true, but it ended up being a nightmare for the veteran. He suffered a game-ending injury after just 45 seconds. The sight of the 32-year-old sobbing on the ground was an awful vista.

REPLACEMENTS

20 TAINE BASHAM – 8
Scoring two tries on debut for your national team, regardless of the opposition, is a red letter day in anyone’s book. Lived up to the considerable hype he’s been generating in Newport over the last 36-months. More please Wayne!

23 NICK TOMPKINS – 7
The Saracens man was called into action with less than a minute on the clock and his industry on and off the ball was telling. Brought huge energy to proceedings, even if a few spills blotting his copybook.

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J
Jon 9 hours ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

This is the problem with conservative mindsets and phycology, and homogenous sports, everybody wants to be the same, use the i-win template. Athlete wise everyone has to have muscles and work at the gym to make themselves more likely to hold on that one tackle. Do those players even wonder if they are now more likely to be tackled by that player as a result of there “work”? Really though, too many questions, Jake. Is it better Jake? Yes, because you still have that rugby of ole that you talk about. Is it at the highest International level anymore? No, but you go to your club or checkout your representative side and still engage with that ‘beautiful game’. Could you also have a bit of that at the top if coaches encouraged there team to play and incentivized players like Damian McKenzie and Ange Capuozzo? Of course we could. Sadly Rugby doesn’t, or didn’t, really know what direction to go when professionalism came. Things like the state of northern pitches didn’t help. Over the last two or three decades I feel like I’ve been fortunate to have all that Jake wants. There was International quality Super Rugby to adore, then the next level below I could watch club mates, pulling 9 to 5s, take on the countries best in representative rugby. Rugby played with flair and not too much riding on the consequences. It was beautiful. That largely still exists today, but with the world of rugby not quite getting things right, the picture is now being painted in NZ that that level of rugby is not required in the “pathway” to Super Rugby or All Black rugby. You might wonder if NZR is right and the pathway shouldn’t include the ‘amateur’, but let me tell you, even though the NPC might be made up of people still having to pull 9-5s, we know these people still have dreams to get out of that, and aren’t likely to give them. They will be lost. That will put a real strain on the concept of whether “visceral thrill, derring-do and joyful abandon” type rugby will remain under the professional level here in NZ. I think at some point that can be eroded as well. If only wanting the best athlete’s at the top level wasn’t enough to lose that, shutting off the next group, or level, or rugby players from easy access to express and showcase themselves certainly will. That all comes back around to the same question of professionalism in rugby and whether it got things right, and rugby is better now. Maybe the answer is turning into a “no”?

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