15. Leigh Halfpenny: 7
Kicked all of his goals, took some superb high balls and was the man to deny Cronin a game-stealing try at the death. There remains the feeling, however, that he could offer more on the counter-attack.
14. Alex Cuthbert: 5
Tried to get himself the game as much as possible but didn’t really succeed in impacting the result. Held onto his World Cup place certainly more on reputation than form.
13. Scott Williams: 6
Made a lovely break to ignite the travelling Welsh fans in the first half, but also gave away three penalties that could have hurt Wales on another day.
12. Jamie Roberts: 7
A stand-up-and-be-counted performance from Wales’ midfield general. As willing a carrier as ever, and showed more guile than usual to make his way through gaps rather than just over people.
11. George North: 6.5
A quiet game by his standards, but brilliant to see him come through 80 minutes unscathed. One clever moment in the second half turned a two on two into an overlap and should have resulted in a try for Hallam Amos.
10. Dan Biggar: 6
Solid yet unspectacular from Biggar – which is usually what you get from him. Kicking from hand was good without being too penetrative, while his kick-chasing was on the whole decent.
9. Rhys Webb: 6
Similar to Biggar in that he neither excelled nor disappointed. He delivered quick ball to the backs but failed to make any of his trademark breaks. One horror box marred an otherwise solid kicking display.
1. Gethin Jenkins: 7
Pulled a trademark turnover out of the bag at the breakdown and held his own in the scrums. Returning to form just in time for the World Cup. According to the stats he also stole a lineout – although I’ve no idea how exactly he managed that.
2. Ken Owens: 6
One of the more willing carriers in the pack, trucking the ball up eight times. A couple of missed lineouts blotted his copybook, however.
3. Tomas Francis: 6.5
A solid scrummaging performance will have alleviated some of the panic amongst Welsh fans should Samson Lee not recover in time for the start of the World Cup. Coped OK with the pace of international rugby, although he looked properly exhausted when substituted in the 53rd minute.
4. Bradley Davies: 7.5
An excellent performance from the Wasps lock, who got about the park to make 12 tackles without missing a single one. Also a key source of lineout ball.
4. Alun Wyn Jones: 8
Carried, tackled, took lineout ball and led from the front. You could feel the collective gasp from the entirety of Wales when he went down injured in the second half.
6. Dan Lydiate: 7
Lydiate did what Lydiate does best: tackle. 23 in total showcased a typically high workrate.
7. Justin Tipuric: 9.5
After the previous Ireland game, we asked if he could do the nitty gritty as well as the pretty stuff. Now we know. Another 20 tackles, countless turnovers, another try and and some gorgeous linking passes all add up to a faultless performance from the openside.
8. Taulupe Faletau: 7
Part of a back-row that out-worked and out-shone its Irish counterparts. Chipped in with his own 16 tackles and provided a useful source of alternate lineout ball.
Replacements: 7
Baldwin, James, King and Charteris all continued the good work of the men they replaced, tearing about the park to rack up the tackles in the face of a late Irish onslaught. Rhys Priestland, much maligned in places, came on for a cameo that proved he can still control a backline. Hallam Amos was guilty of aimlessly kicking the ball away too often.
By Jamie Hosie
Follow Jamie on Twitter: @jhosie43
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A game won by the back 5 of the pack and the scores rightly show this. I’d have Scott W and Biggar higher – the former was excellent in his line speed, choking off the Irish attack, leaving Sexton with little more than dinks and cross kicks to try. He also put in a few decent turnovers. Biggar controlled the game excellently and continued his unerring ability to turn up and unders into almost foolproof forward passes to himself. That little pass inside as well during that line break, magic.
Cuthbert isn’t offering much right now and was up too high in defence a few times. Needs a word about his positioning. Although he’s average at best right now I honestly don’t see any massively exceptional candidates to unseat him – hopefully Liam will be fit and Cuthbert will be a squad player and/or he might get some chances to gain some confidence against Uruguay.
Gethin is an 8.5 – turnovers, scrums, tackles – the best all round loosehead around when he is on top of his game like that. Brilliant.
‘Another 20 tackles, countless turnovers, another try and and some gorgeous linking passes all add up to a faultless performance from the openside’.
And no place in the starting 15 for you Tips!!!
Are you watching????
Are you watching????? .
Are you watching Warren Gatland?????
No he ain’t and its….
Half-a-fullback, C++tbutt, Lydiate, Warburton glued on to their starting numbers 15, 14, 6 +7 as per the 2011 RWC side and set in stone selection for all matches to RWC 2015.
I am amazed Stephen Jones isn’t at outside half!
The opposition all know the back row/back three b 4 the team is even announced.
Change the record PE – we all know you’re English.
With a few exceptions I reckon mostly accurate. I looked over the Irish ratings and I can’t help but think the ratings board think the game was a little off-par. From what I saw it was two solid teams going at each other, yeah some errors but as the commentators were saying neither team wants to show there full hand before the wc.
I would prolly put both sides +1 for the 5/6’s as they were “average” in that sort of game, it just makes it look that way when sides cancel each other out. Similar to last week Scotland looked “better” in defence in there first warm up but to be fair, any decent squad would of converted multiple times. This game we saw a lot of chances broke up by the opposition but against an average or rather weaker side they would of converted a lot of them.
A bullet may fly through paper, but it’s gonna scratch the steel!