By Zippy
March 11 2007

Player ratings for the Wales 23 - 20 defeat against Italy at the Stadio Flaminio on Saturday in the fourth of this seasons RBS 6 nations games, for details read on.

15. K Morgan (5) - What a recovery from injury, looked dangerous with ball in hand but was caught out of position on a number of occasions.

14. M Jones (4) - No ball again but why doesn't he go looking for work? Oddly came inside when we broke and had a 2 on 1 against the full back. Position in danger.

13. T Shanklin (7) - Tackled like I've never seen him do and a huge hit on Canale meant he had to go off, attacked well and showed what we could do with a platform.

12. J Hook (7) - The master of the chip kick which has been Wales only positive in the championship, runs well and the calls for him to start at 10 grow stronger.

11. S Williams (7) - So dangerous in attack and we need to get him good ball more often, world class.

10. S Jones (3) - Prob shouldn't have come back on after being punched but even before that was not controlling the game and just doesn't look comfortable with life. Captaincy is not suiting him.

9. D Peel (5) - Sniped and did well against Troncon, no platform for him to be truly effective and you have to think Phillips might have been the horse for the course.

8. R Jones (4) - Ran better than he did in France which wasn't hard, not looking confident and amazing to think he is vice captain, has to be dropped.

7. M Williams (4) - An off day for Wales best player of the championship, badly caught out in defence and didn't show up elsewhere.

6. A Popham (5) - Massive in defence for Wales all championship but didn't carry the ball like we know he can, play him at 8.

5. AW Jones (2) - Did he play? I didn't see him.

4. I Gough (5) - Put in some good hits and at least put an effort in to stop the try, I still have no idea why he was there. Didn't carry and jersey in danger.

3. C Horsman (3) - Scrum is a mess and he isn't solving the problem and makes it worse by continually giving away penalties.

2. M Rees (4) - Marked better than Horsman for the try, line out a shambles.

1. G Jenkins (2) - Worst performance in the Welsh jersey, under pressure in the scrum and no where to be seen in the loose, drop him.

Subs of note:

Alfie - At least he showed what the decision from the ref meant to the team.

France Stars:

S Parisse - Athletic and direct, what Ryan Jones should be doing for us.

Overall Comments:

This match will be remembered in the history books for one thing and sadly it was the act of the referee, discussed here in the forum http://www.sportnetwork.net/boards/read/s193.php?f=279&i=24806&t=24806&sid=193

Outside of that Mauro Bergamasco needs to be banned for a long time, the gutless punch on Stephen Jones from behind combined with the 2 off the ball tackles on Kevin Morgan which prevented him from scoring. In days gone by he needed to be "sorted out" but there was no chance the toothless Welsh pack were going to do that. And then he scored the winning try.

In the third paragraph I'll actually talk about the game, in the first half Wales were awful and made the same basic errors that they have for the whole championship, we are trying to play rugby without any sort of platform, we have no possession because the front V simply are not doing any work, we are then forced to kick ball away, its such a basic need and I can't believe we're not addressing this.

We'll see what happens next week, few changes and a game against England might well spark the players but it would be a massive shock at this point in time, whitewashed for the 2nd time in 5 years.

Match Summary:

Italy: (13) 23
Tries: Robertson, Mau Bergamasco
Con: Pez (2)
Pens: Pez (3)

Wales: (7) 20
Tries: S Williams, Rees
Cons: S Jones, Hook
Pens: Hook (2)

Italy: De Marigny; Robertson, Canale, Mi Bergamasco, Pratichetti; Pez, Troncon; Lo Cicero, Festuccia, Nieto, Dellape, Bortolami, Zanni, Ma. Bergamasco, Parisse.
Replacements: Zaffiri for Canale (22), Staibano for Lo Cicero (59), Perugini for Nieto (59).
Not Used: Ghiraldini, Bernabo, Griffen, Scanavacca.

Wales: Morgan; M Jones, Shanklin, Hook, S Williams; S Jones, Peel; Jenkins, Rees, Horsman, Gough, A W Jones, Popham, M Williams, R Jones.
Replacements: G Thomas for S Jones (29-40), D Jones for Jenkins (62), R Thomas for Rees (79), A Jones for Horsman (57), J Thomas for R Jones (72).
Not Used: Cockbain, Phillips.