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Wales player ratings vs France | 2023 Guinness Six Nations

Wales' Alun Wyn Jones reacts following the Guinness Six Nations match at Stade de France, Paris. Picture date: Saturday March 18, 2023. (Photo by Adam Davy/PA Images via Getty Images)

Wales player ratings: It’s been a strange Six Nations for Wales, but Warren Gatland’s side went to Paris off the back of a positive win over Italy. How would they fare against a world-beating French side, off the back of a 50-point win at Twickenham?

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It was a difficult game to quantify for Wales. They seemingly had a good first half, yet France chipped away at them and racked up the points. Wales completely forgot to bring an attacking game with them, which certainly didn’t help. Given both sides’ form in this campaign, Wales probably punched above their weight to come away with a try bonus point.

15. Louis Rees-Zammit – 5
Rees-Zammit had an okay first half – he can use the masses of space to his advantage and make half-breaks. From a Wales perspective, you can’t help but wish they had a fullback who kicked more.

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14. Josh Adams – 6.5
Adams is always technically fantastic, and runs well when given space. Made the best of some difficult situations.

13. George North – 6
Picked a fantastic line for the opening try and had a great first half. It didn’t last, however, as Fickou schooled him for an early second half try.

12. Nick Tompkins – 6
Carried well early on but made a horrible defensive read to let Ntamack through for France’s opening try. Put in a nice little kick for North to chase in the second half.

11. Rio Dyer – 6.5
Chased kicks brilliantly and made lots of crucial tackles. Marking Damian Penaud is a tough gig, but Dyer couldn’t have done much more. Took his try at the end superbly, which notches him an extra half point!

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10. Dan Biggar – 4.5
Put in a few great kicks, but you can’t help but wonder why he didn’t do it more? Wales had no attack whatsoever, so why wouldn’t you use your 10’s massive boot?

9. Rhys Webb – 6
Webb’s pass for the opening North try was superb. The Osprey was okay, but was substituted at the right time.

1. Wyn Jones – 3
Atonio got the better of Jones at scrum time, which ultimately let France into the game when Wales were playing well.

2. Ken Owens – 5.5
Solid – hit his targets at the lineout and had a handful of carries.

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3. Tom Francis – 4
Had a few good trundles but ultimately was second best to Baille in the scrum.

4. Adam Beard – 6
Wales were keen to get Beard up in the air early at lineouts, and it paid off.

5. Alun-Wyn Jones – 6.5
The lock is 68 years old and still throwing offloads he has no right to throw. But let’s just pretend he’s “too old” and “finished” to suit the narrative.

6. Aaron Wainwright – 4.5
Not overly noticeable but made a handful of good carries.

7. Justin Tipuric – 6
Slowed the ball down a few times, but sadly not enough to stop a rampant French pack.

8. Taulupe Faletau – 6.5
Even when Faletau isn’t making flashy breaks, he did a ridiculous amount to rescue Wales when they’re going backwards – just as he has been doing for 100 games now.

REPLACEMENTS

16. Bradley Roberts – 6.5
Overthrew his first dart but atoned by scoring a try.

17/18 Gareth Thomas/Dillon Lewis – 7
Wales’ replacement props sent Wales forward at scrum time, which is positive.

19. Dafydd Jenkins – 4.5
Again, not a massive impact.

20. Tommy Reffell – 6
Clearly set out to be a nuisance at the breakdown and made one great turnover.

21. Tomos Williams – 8.5
Came on and immediately put in an attacking kick, which was exactly what Wales needed. Scored a try and came as close to turning the game as humanly possible.

22. Owen Williams – N/A
No significant impact.

23. Leigh Halfpenny – N/A

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J
JW 6 minutes ago
Crusaders outlast fast starting Blues to reach another Super Rugby final

Yeah nar, but that’s kinda the thing, I don’t think the old approach was working either!


You might have it right though, leading up, in all rugby/competitions mean, to the last WC it did feel like there had been better discipline/less than the normal amount of cards. Well, at least a certain demographic of teams improved at least, but not so much NZ ones is my point.


I bet you also think going harsher would be the best way to go reducing head contact and the frequency of concussions?


I would hate to have your theory tested as it requires subjective thinking from the officials but..

AI Overview

In Super Rugby Pacific, a red card means the player is sent off for the rest of the match, but with a 20-minute red card, the team can replace the player after 20 minutes of playing with 14 men. If the foul play is deemed deliberate and with a high degree of danger, a full red card is issued, and the player cannot be replaced. A second yellow card also results in a 20-minute red card with a replacement allowed. 

is there to stop that from happening. The whole subjective thing is why we have 20min cards, and I worry that the same leniency that stopped them from red carding a player who ran 30 meters and still didn’t get his head low enough would stop them straight redn them too.


Back to the real topic though, right after that WC we saw those same angles getting red carded all over the show. So do some players actually have control over their actions enough to avoid head collisions (and didn’t gaf after the WC?), or was it pure luck or an imaginary period of good discipline?


So without a crystal ball to know the truth of it I think you’ll find it an immeasurably better product with 20m red cards, there just does not appear to be any appropriate amount of discipline added to the back end, the suspensions (likely controlled by WR), yet.

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