15. Gareth Anscombe: 6
Mixed first start from the Kiwi-born utility back, with some strong runs on the ball but a poor display with the boot with some kicks out on the full and others sliced.
14. Alex Cuthbert: 5
Seemed to be showing signs of improvement from his poor campaign so far but a deliberate and stupid knock-on late in the game saw him sent to the bin. Will keep his place due to Wales’ injury problems.
13. George North: 6.5
A lot of focus on his switch from the wing before the game, yet North kept his opposite number quiet and also made the most metres for Wales. Looked promising and dangerous. Unlucky not to score after being held up twice by superb Australian defence.
12. Jamie Roberts: 6
A largely quiet outing for the big man, not really coming into the game until the second half. Ran hard but couldn’t quite penetrate Wallaby lines.
11. Liam Williams: 6.5
An injury meant that Williams hobbled off the pitch before the final whistle, but still looked impressive as ever. Superb under the high ball despite not playing in his preferred position of full-back. Sad to see him ruled out of the remainder of the tournament.
10. Dan Biggar: 6
Struggled to exert the kind of influence we have come to expect from him. Missed his first kick at goal this tournament, proving he is human after all.
9. Gareth Davies: 7
Arguably Wales’ best player again this week (although man of the match was a bit much), looking lively around the rucks and dangerous whilst carrying. Drew a yellow on opposite number Will Genia from a quick tap and go.
1. Paul James: 6.5
Brought in to stiffen up a scrum that had been crumbling recently and did just that. Not quite as effective as Gethin Jenkins in the loose but a solid return from injury.
2. Scott Baldwin: 6
Lineout seemed to work well on the most part, and played a big part in the second-half assault on the Wallaby try line.
3. Samson Lee: 5
Perhaps the least impressive of the Wales front row as he was pinged twice in the first half at the scrum and outplayed by Scott Sio.
4. Luke Charteris: 7
Given a job to do and executed it perfectly – namely, disrupting the Wallaby maul. Charteris was a nuisance in that area and played his part in a functioning lineout and strengthened scrum too.
5. Alun-Wyn Jones: 7
Has had a solid tournament so far and continued with an impressive display on Saturday. Put in a decent tackling shift and carried more than usual.
6. Sam Warburton: 6.5
Started on the blindside rather than his usual berth on the opposite side of the scrum, yet still seemed to be effective at the breakdown. Came into the game more as it wore on.
7. Justin Tipuric: 6
Started the game well but seemed to fade a bit as it progressed. Far from the form he showed out in Dublin in August. Showed a few nice touches and passes.
8. Taulupe Faletau: 6
A few uncharacteristic errors at the breakdown proved costly for Wales, and he perhaps should have scored in the long period of Welsh pressure. Some decent carries including a darting break down the touchline.
Replacements: 6
Tomas Francis replaced the struggling Samson Lee which seemed to solidify the scrum. Ken Owens and Arron Jarvis had limited time to make much of an impact. Ross Moriarty cameoed later on as a replacement for Tipuric. In the backs, Rhys Priestland featured for Dan Biggar late on, James Hook replaced the injured Liam Williams and Lloyd Williams came on at scrum-half instead of on the wing. No real impact as the game was all but over by that point.
By Jack Hoare (@jackhoare)
Photo by: Patrick Khachfe / Onside Images
Lower score for North – he wasn’t unlucky not to score, he was negligent. Should have gone for the corner and slid in. He’s 18 stone.
Have to give Lee a higher score – the scrum that monstered England was largely kept in check by the original front row. He’s not a complete enough player to contribute loads around the park yet but he kept the game tight by mostly stopping Aus from using the scrum as a weapon. As an interesting contrast Dan Cole got 4.5 for that Aus game despite being comprehensively mashed in his main role yet Lee gets 5 for a much, much better performance in the scrum.
Hugely disappointing result. There for the taking but not good enough to play around rather than through. Sterling defence by Australia.
George North unlucky not to score, err no. North completely butchered the opportunity. In that position there is no way one on one he shouldn’t have scored. That one moment was systematic of how poor the Welsh back division was. Other than Gareth Davies no Welsh back should have scored higher than a five.
As captain, Warburton should have points docked from his score for the decision-making while Australia were down to 13 men. Should have extracted at least three points and I would suggest six would have been a reasonable expectation.
I’m not sure – they’re down to 13 men, you’re camped on their line, you really want to come away with a try. Particularly if you can do it quickly and get back down there again. What I really would question was the couple of decisions to go for a scrum. We’d looked good in the driving maul and extracted penalties, but struggled for parity in the scrum.
I think that 8 minutes really did show up the psychological issue Wales have with Australia. It looked like Wales tensed up and were really feeling the pressure to score, with adverse effects on their decision making.
Apparently Warburton has said that the team spoke before the game about needing a try at some point to beat the Aussies – hence the push to get it when they were down to 13 men. Certainly, it seems it was more of a planned decision than England’s late kick to the corner was 2 weeks previously…
In that context, it makes a little more sense, as it was certainly their best chance to score. It was just the execution that was lacking.
I’m surprised at the lack of Welsh fan irritation at their failure to beat the Aussies. There can’t have been many top level professional international rugby matches where one team has two players in the bin and yet doesn’t concede a single point in that time
Awful decision making not to take the points and come straight back at them. Far, far too predictible when attacking the Aussie line. It looked like they didn’t have a clue what to do to break down a 13 man Aussie defense, let alone a 15 man one
Can you imagine NZ, SA or Ireland not scoring in such a situation – even if its just three points? I even find it hard to think of England not managing a measly 3
Now, a failure of decision making and creativitiy means that instead of a game against Scotland which could well have seen Wales into the semi-finals, they’ve got SA instead. A big chance missed
There seems to be almost an almost fatalistic acceptance of the result. A kind of ‘Oh well, we were never going to beat Australia anyway’ attitude
A shame as I’d like to see Wales do well, but I cannot see them progressing any further
That is partly it Pablito – a bit more of a “what a bunch of idiots” resignation to it and some euphoria left over from just getting out of the group. Before Sat we were in the QFs, we lost to Aus, we’re still. The reality of us also getting an “easier” route through never really sunk as we were all just so focused on getting out of that group so for most people it’s not something we’ve really lost, it was more a nice bonus if we got it. Probably not the best way to think but….
That game for me also showed up the injuries – JD2 would have made much, much more of the ball in the centres, Webb would have been screaming for the 3 pts and Halfpenny would have been running in to offer himself for the kick. It’s a crap excuse but I think the lack of some of the senior players was going to tell at some point.
Warburton will get a rocket for not taking those pts – the only defence he has (and it’s not a good enough one to stop all comeback) is that he was pulling a s*** or bust approach when a win wasn’t the end of the world.
When all that pile driving was going on the guy in front of me was screaming for ball to come out wide … I said it was a bad idea cos we would screw it up if we did that … next phase we get mashed in midfield and lose the ball and that initiative.
The real loss in that game was no points from the 15 mins of total domination near the start of the first half. Not even a decent 3 (we already had that).
All good points Brighty. Especially about the injuries – with either JD2 or Scott Williams, you perhaps would have won that game
II found it frustrating as it was such a good chance to beat a very good SH side and it was wasted – yes in part due to epic Aussie defence – but mainly due to a lack of clear leadership and thinking under pressure – its not just England that are prone to it!
At least you had senior players and decision makers even if injury cruelly robbed you of them. Something England needs to develop over the next 4 years (Deja Vu).
Thought Wales did well but without me ever thinking that you we going to win after the first 15 minutes even when camped on their line. Going to be another close one with SA. It’s going to be toe to toe stuff I think.
Have to say that generally thought the Welsh players scores should be higher across the board, as they did measure up well against a good Aussie side despite a crippling injury list.
Re scrum would say that we had problems early in the game against the aussies, but weren’t mullered until later on with substitutions. Then we went backwards at a rate of knots!
I was there, and on leaving the stadium I thought that the better team had won. Happy that the first scrum, after the first yellow card, was the correct decision, then the lineout. What I did not, nor the vast majority of the welsh supporters, was the refusal to take the three points for the penalty for the second yellow. On the way back to the hotel, a Kiwi stopped us, and openly stated that he felt that the better team had lost. Now having had the luxury of watching the match on TV, Wales without any basis, were the better team; bold statement I know as we lost and failed to score in the eight minutes that Australia were down to 13. Only once did Australia look like crossing the white line, Wales crossed it three times. Disappoint yes, Worry about the Boks, no, worry about the amount of injuries yes, can we still win it, YES.