Wales player ratings vs Ireland - Autumn Nations Cup
Wales player ratings: The Welsh came into the Autumn Nations Cup opener with Ireland at the Aviva Stadium desperately in need of a win, after five losses in a row. The exit of defence coach Byron Hayward from the set-up in the wake of their Six Nations loss to Scotland, if anything, only added to that pressure.
Wayne Pivac’s side did benefit from the return of flanker Justin Tipuric after tonsillitis, which saw him miss the home loss to Scotland. But this was another flat, world-weary and worryingly listless effort from the Welshmen. Here’s our Wales player ratings:
LEIGH HALFPENNY – 5
Wales were left to rely on his long-distance kicking, which summed up just how bereft of ideas Wayne Pivac’s team have become. The fullback may have been missing an incisor but the Scarlet’s smile was significantly less toothless than Wales in attack. Looked weary.
LIAM WILLIAMS – 5
Got into Lowe early, shoving the Test newbie in the back after the New Zealander fumbled a potential try-scoring pass. We’re giving him 5 largely based on the resulting manbags. Lowe did run through him a few minutes later though and had the final laugh with a debut try.
JONATHAN DAVIES – 4
Now the old man of the Wales backline, ‘Foxy’ is starting to play like a 32-year-old centre. His long and sadly dense injury profile is taking its toll on the veteran, and he left the field after being on the receiving end of a big hit.
OWEN WATKIN – 6
His line speed and tackling was a significant factor in Wales’ impressive first phase defence, and was a nuisance in contact. Seemed up for it.
JOSH ADAMS – 7
Defensively sound, he clearly enjoyed repeatedly manhandling Andrew Conway in defence. On the rare occasion that he got any kind of good ball in attack, he stood out.
DAN BIGGAR – 5
Like many of the senior players around him, didn’t have any bright ideas to get he or his comrades into the game. Didn’t even direct any backchat at the ref, which was worrying. That’s not our Dan.
GARETH DAVIES – 6
Another player who appeared eager to give away as many sloppy penalties as possible. Getting under Cian Healy in the 51st minute was maybe his most significant contribution.
RHYS CARRE – 3
Put under huge pressure early by Andrew Porter, who won two consecutive penalties off the big Welsh loosehead. Wales ended up relying on the charity of referee Mathieu Raynard at scrumtime while Carre was on. Got the shepherd’s crook before half-time before a defensive scrum, the ultimate ignominy for a prop. He’ll learn from it.
All too easy in the end for Ireland #IREvWAL #AutumnNationsCup https://t.co/yDdnZcqUr6
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) November 13, 2020
RYAN ELIAS – 5
Carried aggressively from the off but his darts were about as accurate as a Pennsylvanian exit poll.
TOMAS FRANCIS – 4
Despite outweighing the Irish front row by about four stone, it was Francis and co that were getting pushed around. With that said, slimming down hasn’t suited Francis.
WILL ROWLANDS – 4
The giant Wasp didn’t help out his hooker – Elias – at the lineout time. Looks the part but needs to start putting up some big performances at Test level or he’ll find himself dropped.
ALUN WYN JONES – 5
Bringing up 150 caps is a world-first but you imagine it couldn’t have been further from Jones’ mind as Wales battled for forward ascendency. Triggered Peter O’Mahoney in the opening minutes, an early promise of some Welsh fire. It never came. A forgettable performance.
SHANE LEWIS-HUGHES – 5
A knock-on in the Irish 22 the 62nd was a get out of jail free card for Andy Farrell’s men. It’s very early days for Lewis-Hughes but you want to see more from the man known to his teammates as ‘Crazy’.
JUSTIN TIPURIC – 6
Not a barnstorming return for Tipuric, who was recovering from tonsillitis, but at least played with some endeavour in the second forty.
TAULUPE FALETAU – 6
Was physically contained by the Irish, and going on current form, will struggle to make the plane for the 2021 Lions tour. His try-saving tackle on Cian Healy was top draw though and he did play himself into the game as Wales enjoyed their second-half purple patch.
REPLACEMENTS:
ELLIOT DEE – 6
With Dee on Wales suddenly started getting some set-piece stability. Some.
WYN JONES – 6
Things improved at the set-piece when he came on, which wasn’t hard considering they were in survival mode in the first half.
SAMSON LEE – 6
Came on for Francis in the 51st minute and – as with Wyn Jones – seemed to settle the Welsh scrum.
JAKE BALL – 6
An improvement on Rowlands, although that was practically a given. Should probably start.
AARON WAINWRIGHT – 6
Still trying to find the form that made him a World Cup bolter 12 months ago.
LLOYD WILLIAMS – 6
Looked sharp as part of a far brighter second-half performance for Wales. Needs to be a bit more careful when firing high speed balls at forwards knees.
CALLUM SHEEDY – NA
The Bristol Bear has repped England at non-Test level and Ireland at U20s, but he finally made his debut for country of his birth. Wasn’t on long enough to rate.
GEORGE NORTH – 5
A forward pass to start to his 100th Test cap wasn’t the ideal first touch. The game-breaking North of old is still very much dormant.
Comments on RugbyPass
🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
27 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
27 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
27 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
27 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
27 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
11 Go to comments