15. Liam Williams: 6
Relatively quiet in his comeback appearance, having not played since undergoing ankle surgery earlier this Summer. Took a few knocks and substituted for Matthew Morgan early on.
14. Alex Cuthbert: 5
Still desperately trying to get into the game but largely anonymous. Looked for the ball a lot more than usual but another performance to forget for the Blues winger.
13. Cory Allen: 8
Man of the match performance from Cory Allen, including a hat-trick of first half tries. Another injury worry for Wales, with his tournament hopes looking to have ended.
12. Scott Williams: 6
Carried and tackled well in his preferred berth of 12. Allen will take the limelight for his three tries, but Scott Williams was the man creating the chances from behind the scrum. Given a 6 for his three handling errors.
11. Hallam Amos: 6.5
Showed occasional glimpses of his potential and bagged a second half try as a reward for his efforts. Should start for the England game ahead of the woeful Alex Cuthbert.
10. Rhys Priestland: 6
A mixed bag for the Bath-bound man. A few missed kicks for touch yet a near perfect record from the tee. Needed to marshall and organise the backs a lot more. Seemed confident though.
9. Gareth Davies: 7
A very solid outing for Davies. Delivered quick ball, demonstrated a keen eye for the try-line and bagged two tries on his first start. Reassuring in the absence of Rhys Webb.
1. Paul James: 7
Judging on performance alone it was an impressive display from Paul James, with the set piece being largely dominant against the South Americans. Limped off before the interval with a tight calf.
2. Scott Baldwin: 7
In a game in which the lineout was barely contested by the Uruguayans, Baldwin’s accuracy was pinpoint. Should start against England.
3. Samson Lee: 8
Held up well in his first appearance since facing Ireland back in March. Scrum was strong and will be glad to get 40 minutes under his belt, as well as his first try for Wales. An injury worry.
4. Jake Ball: 7
Physical and overpowering throughout. A great performance in both attack and defence and has given Warren Gatland a welcome headache over Alun Wyn Jones’ partner in the second row.
5. Luke Charteris: 7
As with Ball, a steady and committed outing from Charteris. The main target in the lineouts, as well as being a constant nuisance at any attempt of a driving maul from Uruguay. Carried well too.
6. Sam Warburton (C): 6.5
Moved to blindside to accommodate the in-form Justin Tipuric, although struggled to leave an imprint on the match. Needs to start at his preferred openside.
7. Justin Tipuric: 8
Was the best back-rower on the field and only improved as the game progressed. Butchered an easy try scoring opportunity but redeemed himself by touching down later on.
8. James King: 6
Perhaps showed a little naivety and inexperience at no. 8, but his versatility will be key for Wales later in the tournament. Decent enough.
Replacements: 6.5
Aaron Jarvis entered early on as Paul James’s replacement, and steadied the scrum well alongside tight-head replacement Tomos Francis. Ken Owens demonstrated the impact he can have from the bench, whilst Dominic Day seemed to work well in the lineout. Ross Moriarty seemed relatively effective, whilst Dan Lydiate had limited time on the field before retiring early with a head injury. In the backs, Lloyd Williams featured as emergency injury cover on the wing, and Matthew Morgan had few chances to show his capabilities.
By Jack Hoare (@jackhoare)
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I’m no fan of Cuthbert but i though Allen made him look even worse.
People seem to have been blinded to the fact he run in 3 tries against part timers. I thought his basic skills and passing left a lot to be desired.
‘blinded by’ that should say.
You’re completely right. Aside from scoring his tries, the second two at least would have been scored by whoever was wearing 13 after the hard work was done by others, his distribution, handling and decision making were pretty poor.
IMO his and Scott Williams’ scores above are the wrong way round.
I think it’s a little harsh on Amos to be fair, when Cuthbert was given opportunities he dropped the ball away from any tackle and even with overlaps kept struggling to do anything of use, Amos on the other hand had a couple of early handling issues which is to be expected in his first wc game, but then recovered. He went into several 3 on 1 situations and made ground, moved to the inside when required he has to start ahead of Cuthbert then we have a threat on both wings.
Allen touched down 3 times but to be fair his offloads weren’t the greatest. I’m hoping Williams “dead leg” is just that so he’ll be fit for England. Priestland did ok from the tee which I’m happy enough with, Biggar will play the bigger games so it’s just good to know we can rely on Priestland for 3pts if Biggar get’s injured. His kicks to touch were perhaps more of a gamble due to the opposition he probably would of went for less range if he was worried about the counter.
Bringing in the first stringers should solve a lot of the issues, can hope handling errors were a first game jitters but obviously something they will work on. Set pieces were pretty good (excluding the penalty for the uncontested maul) so I’m happy on that front. All in all not what we hoped to see but glimmers of It, confident they will shrug of the slow start and come out hitting next weekend though, should be a great game!
Slight other plus was adaptability, we saw early on the objective to play it out wide, try the highball etc, however as the fruits game from pick & go and mauls they switched to using that as the main weapon and it worked well. That may come in handy as quite a few teams seem to struggle to change there gameplan but it seems to be quite a fluid switch.
“Should start for the England game ahead of the woeful Alex Cuthbert.” – Yes Please!
All those injuries & Cuthbert wasn’t one of them. where’s the justice ?. On the whole it was a pretty dismal performance, I know Wales have a reputation as slow starters but it was Uruguay for goodness sake !. We now know we have to win the next three games imho, Australia will score a heap against them & England will no doubt be playing a shattered, disillusioned and probably weakened Uraguay in the last game & will probably double Wales tally.
I was quietly confident that we would beat England a couple of weeks ago, now, after all the injuries it seems unlikely ….. and thats not getting the excuses in early, just stating the facts.
Don’t know the updates on the latest injuries but even if Williams & Lee are passed fit they are unlikely to be able to train this week …… it would be an enormous risk to play them against England, unfortuanately we are running out of options. If Williams is out for more than one game I think Patchell should be called in he has a tremendous kicking range though not as accurate as Half P.