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Wales player ratings vs Ireland | Six Nations 2022

Nick Tompkins /Getty

Fronted by new skipper Dan Biggar, Wayne Pivac’s men were given the tough task of chasing an away scalp in Dublin to open their Six Nations campaign.

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Unfortunately, it didn’t go to plan. You will be hard-pressed to think of a worse opening day of a campaign for Wales. The story of the day was Ireland making some of Wales’ strongest players look very ordinary.

15. LIAM WILLIAMS – 3
Ran a couple of decent angles and made a good tackle on Sexton, but Williams didn’t shine with the ball. A difficult day to play fullback, and it showed.

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14. JOHNNY MCNICHOLL – 3
Had few opportunities with ball in hand, and his aerial threat was nullified by Ireland. A frustrating afternoon for McNicholl, who couldn’t really get into the game.

13. JOSH ADAMS – 2
Pivac thrust Adams into a role which does not suit his strengths. Through no fault of his own, Adams really struggled to adapt to his positional switch. Was lucky to cop a yellow card.

12. NICK TOMPKINS – 3
Had to cover a lot on Adams’ inside and by all means did a decent job. Didn’t do much with the ball.

11. LOUIS REES-ZAMMIT – 5
Caught narrow on Ireland’s opening try but had a mixed bag from there on out. Made a few good tackles on Mack Hansen and made one nice break. Hard game for Zammit, but he kicked and tackled well.

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10. DAN BIGGAR – 2
Wales’ new captain had a fairly anonymous first half and was outplayed by his peer Sexton in the second. Jaco Peyper lasted the whole game without wearing ear defenders, which is definitely a plus point.

9. TOMOS WILLIAMS – 4
Today was a tough gig for any scrum-half. Despite Wales securing decent ruck-speed, Ireland shut off Williams’ options significantly. By no means a terrible showing, but Williams didn’t quite look himself today.

1. WYN JONES – 5
Did a decent job containing the titanic Tadhg Furlong, which deserves some credit in itself.

2. RYAN ELIAS – 3
Didn’t get much chance to do much with the ball against a strong Irish pack. Was functional at scrum time but didn’t make a significant impact.

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3. TOM FRANCIS – 3
Neutral at scrum time until conceding a penalty at the end of the first half. Had a good scrum in the early second half before being replaced.

4. WILL ROWLANDS – 2
A poor cleanout on Aaron Wainwright gave Sexton a free shot at three points early on, which was luckily missed. Didn’t make an impact thereafter.

5. ADAM BEARD – 4
Tackled well and did his best to disrupt the Irish line-out, but gave away a couple of penalties in the process. Targeted effectively by the Irish front five.

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6. ELLIS JENKINS – 3
Outplayed by the Irish back-row. Clearly well targeted and didn’t get a chance to make one of his trademark turnovers.

7. TAINE BASHAM – 4
Had a few good carries and tackles but struggled to get into the breakdown. Basham never lacks effort, but facing the monumental Josh Van Der Flier was a huge learning curve. At least he has the most confusing try of 2022 to show for it.

8. AARON WAINWRIGHT – 3
After an outstanding Autumn, Wainwright was kept anonymous. Showed intent to carry hard, but was tackled well. Hopefully Wainwright gets more chances to shine later in the tournament.

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Comments

2 Comments
J
J 1012 days ago

LRZ was not a 5.. poor game from him, 3 at best. Agree with most ratings but Basham at least a 7.

i
isaac 1013 days ago

Should speedy start ahead of Bigger???

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