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Wales player ratings vs Springboks | Autumn Nations Series

Ellis Jenkins made his return to international rugby against South Africa after spending almost three years in the test wilderness. (Photo by David Davies/Getty Images)

Wales player ratings: Despite having lost the services of totemic skipper Alun Wyn Jones and back rower Ross Moriarty to injuries, Wales welcomed back their English-based players into camp this week.

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Head coach Wayne Pivac made six changes to the starting XV that took to the field against New Zealand last weekend and the mission was to put some pride back into the jersey after a heavy defeat.

They did that and then some, but in the end, the South Africans’ muscle game was brought to bear and Wales maybe couldn’t quite match it.

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WALES PLAYER RATINGS:
15 JOHNNY MCNICHOLL – 7/10
After a decent showing against the All Blacks, McNicholl put in another industrious performance here, playing a major role in Wales’ kick and contest game.

14 LOUIS REES-ZAMMIT – 5
Denied the opportunity to play the Springboks during the summer, the Gloucester man got off to an awful start here, fumbling all before him in the atrocious conditions. Although he threatened the SA line on one occasion, it was a game that largely passed him by.

13 JONATHAN DAVIES – 7
The midfield veteran was handed the captain’s armband this week in the absence of Alun Wyn Jones, and for the most part, held his own against the sport’s premier Test centres.

12 NICK TOMPKINS – 7.5
The Saracens 12 came straight back in the cost of Jonny Williams. Threw a beautiful over-the-top pass that very nearly put LRZ away in the corner, typifying a tremendous passing performance. Expertly milked back-to-back hits from Ox Nche and was rewarded when the prop was shown a yellow card. Went off with a HIA late on but he couldn’t have done much more.

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11 JOSH ADAMS – 6
Being used as a battering ram off inside lines maybe isn’t the best use of Adams, even if he made the best of the ball offered up to him.

10 DAN BIGGAR – 8
Biggar, making his 93rd international appearance, returned to the starting line-up after a summer on Lions duty against the Boks. Controlled the game well, his decision-making in the wet near impeccable. Wales are a different beast with him at the steering wheel.

9 TOMOS WILLIAMS – 8
Wales’ man of the match last week, the Cardiff nine was once again on point with his laser-guided box kicking. His game craft belies his relative inexperience at Test level.

1 RHYS CARRÉ – 6
The young prop lived up to his name, bullocking his way through Springbok defenders in the loose. The scrum was another matter, although he was less to blame than Francis on the tighthead side.

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2 RYAN ELIAS – 6
He had a very mixed day at the office last weekend and today’s innings was an improvement, even if he was part of a back-peddling scrum.

3 TOMAS FRANCIS – 4
Welsh fans may have feared that getting obliterated in the first scrum of game could have been a portent of things to come, and so it went for Francis, who was taken apart by Nche.

4 WILL ROWLANDS – 7.5
Playing the Springboks is the ultimate Test of a forward’s physical prowess on a rugby field and at 6’8 and 123kg Rowlands is certainly built for the task. Carried competently, bludgeoning his way over the gainline for incrementable gains and was near enough a sure thing at the lineout.

5 ADAM BEARD – 7
The towering British and Irish Lion might have fancied some revenge today against Etzebeth and co, but opened his account with a pass that placed his teammates under severe pressure. The big man was tireless though and stayed in the fight.

6 ELLIS JENKINS – 8.5
Jenkins came in for Moriarty in the back row, making his long-awaited return to international injury after suffering a knee injury against the same opponents three years ago. Scored a massive turnover in the 23rd minute with South Africa’s proverbial wolves at the door. Brought the breakdown nous that Wales have missed so badly in the absence of Tipuric and Navidi. A massive performance.

7 TAINE BASHAM – 7.5
Wales’ standout forward against New Zealand, his swashbuckling carrying caught the eye again, even if he was kept relatively quiet by the Bok bruisers.

8 AARON WAINWRIGHT – 6
Picked out of position at No.8, Wainwright was another frequent Welsh fumbler. Played his part in dogged Welsh defensive display but Faletau’s return can’t come quick enough.

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Flankly 2 minutes ago
'Absolute madness': Clive Woodward rips into Borthwick in wake of NZ loss

Borthwick is supposed to be the archetypical conservative coach, the guy that might not deliver a sparkling, high-risk attacking style, but whose teams execute the basics flawlessly. And that's OK, because it can be really hard to beat teams that are rock solid and consistent in the rugby equivalent of "blocking and tackling".


But this is why the performance against NZ is hard to defend. You can forgive a conservative, back-to-basics team for failing to score tons of tries, because teams like that make up for it with reliability in the simple things. They can defend well, apply territorial pressure, win the set piece battles, and take their scoring chances with metronomic goal kicking, maul tries and pick-and-go goal line attacks.


The reason why the English rugby administrators should be on high alert is not that the English team looked unable to score tries, but that they were repeatedly unable to close out a game by executing basic, coachable skills. Regardless of how they got to the point of being in control of their destiny, they did get to that point. All that was needed was to be world class at things that require more training than talent. But that training was apparently missing, and the finger has to point at the coach.


Borthwick has been in the job for nearly two years, a period that includes two 6N programs and an RWC campaign. So where are the solid foundations that he has been building?

4 Go to comments
N
Nickers 11 minutes ago
Scott Robertson responds to criticism over All Blacks' handling errors

Very poor understanding of what's going on and 0 ability to read. When I say playing behind the gain line you take this to mean all off-loads and site times we are playing in front of the gain line???


Every time we play a lot of rugby behind the gain line (for clarity, meaning trying to build an attack and use width without front foot ball 5m+ behind the most recent breakdown) we go backwards and turn the ball over in some way. Every time a player is tackled behind the most recent breakdown you need more and more people to clear out because your forwards have to go back around the corner, whereas opposition players can keep moving forward. Eventually you run out of either players to clear out or players to pass to and the result in a big net loss of territory and often a turnover. You may have witnessed that 20+ times in the game against England. This is a particularly dumb idea inside your own 40m which is where, for some reason, we are most likely to employ it.


The very best ABs teams never built an identity around attacking from poor positions. The DC era team was known for being the team that kicked the most. To engineer field position and apply pressure, and create broken play to counter attack. This current team is not differentiating between when a defence has lost it's structure and there are opportunities, and when they are completely set and there is nothing on. The reason they are going for 30 minute + periods in every game without scoring a single point, even against Japan and a poor Australian team, is because they are playing most of their rugby on the back foot in the wrong half.

43 Go to comments
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Nickers 40 minutes ago
Scott Robertson responds to criticism over All Blacks' handling errors

I thought we made a lot of progress against that type of defence by the WC last year. Lots of direct running and punching holes rather than using width. Against that type of defence I think you have to be looking to kick on first phase when you have front foot ball which we did relatively successfully. We are playing a lot of rugby behind the gain line at the moment. They are looking for those little interchanges for soft shoulders and fast ball or off loads but it regularly turns into them battering away with slow ball and going backwards, then putting in a very rushed kick under huge pressure.


JB brought that dimension when he first moved into 12 a couple of years ago but he's definitely not been at his best this year. I don't know if it is because he is being asked to play a narrow role, or carrying a niggle or two, but he does not look confident to me. He had that clean break on the weekend and stood there like he was a prop who found himself in open space and didn't know what to do with the ball. He is still a good first phase ball carrier though, they use him a lot off the line out to set up fast clean ball, but I don't think anyone is particularly clear on what they are supposed to do at that point. He was used really successfully as a second playmaker last year but I don't think he's been at that role once this year. He is a triple threat player but playing a very 1 dimensional role at the moment. He and Reiko have been absolutely rock solid on defence which is why I don't think there will be too much experimentation or changes there.

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