Zippy's Player Ratings - Wales vs Ireland

By Zippy
April 10 2006

Player ratings for Wales in the 31 – 5 defeat against Ireland in the RBS 6 Nations Championship game at Lansdowne Road yesterday. For details read on

15. L Byrne (6) – Looked ok in attack and showed he could have the ability at this level, marked down for getting turned over and going absent in defence numerous times.

14. M Jones (7) – Took his try well and did quite a bit of work around the park, one of the few plus points from the game.

13. H Luscome (4) – Completely outplayed by the outstanding BoD, didn’t threaten the Irish defence at all and his place is now under threat.

12. MJ Watkins (5) – Was reasonably dangerous but is not an inside centre, defence is a weak spot for him still.

11. D James (3) – Waved Shane Horgan through for the try and didn’t do anything of note all afternoon.

10. S Jones (9) – Was outstanding for the 21 minutes he was on the park, tackled well and controlled a sustained period of Welsh pressure, hope he’ll be back for Italy. A massive player for Wales.

9. D Peel (5) – Playing behind a well beaten pack was never going to be easy but was guilty of trying too hard and his sniping runs were predictable, his service was not good and very rarely passes directly from the base.

8. M Owen (4) – Ineffective in everything he did, the clamour for Delve to be given a chance gets ever stronger, Owen played some of his best rugby for Wales at lock, worth thinking about putting him back there.

7. M Williams (5) – The best of a bad bunch in the back row, cannot be seen at his best when spending the whole time defending.

6. C Charvis (3) – Hasn’t played well for Wales for a long time and living on borrowed time, didn’t do a thing and was replaced very early on, has the old dog lost the will for a fight?

5. R Sidoli (6) – Tried very hard and one of the more visible members of the pack, the line out was ok as well.

4. I Gough (4) – Decent defensive effort but it was clear to see Wales lack of depth in the boilerhouse, honest player but not classy enough.

3. A Jones (6) – Won’t be happy at having to play 80mins! Scrum was good for the first 60mins, when he started to tire after that it got gradually worse, a decent day at the office.

2. R Thomas (5) – Line out was good so he isn’t marked down for that, lost a scrum against the head and his usual work rate wasn’t good enough.

1. D Jones (7) – A real plus point until he had to go off, carried the ball exceptionally and looking a class act.

Subs of note:

G Henson – An awful game, kicking was all over the shop, many people have blamed him for the Welsh defeat, that wasn’t solely his fault but he was poor.

G Delve – Had some game time at last but playing out of position and was caught out by Stringer, deserves a chance at no8.

G Jenkins – Still struggling to live up to the heights of last season and would have been expected to give the tiring John Hayes a hammering.

Ireland Stars:

BoD – A massive player

Half Backs – Stringer and O’Gara are much criticised but really controlled the game.

S Horgan – Giant and used his size to full effect.

Irish pack – 1-8 gave the Welsh 8 a torrid time and completely outplayed them.

Overall Comments:

A gutless uncommitted performance from the Welsh, the day before I watched the Scots give everything and I’d expect the same from my national side, words like disinterested have been thrown at them and it was a disgrace.

For the first 20mins we were alright but only scored 5 points from a kick and chase, from that point on we lacked any penetration and were far too lateral and predictable, 23 errors is ridiculous.

This season is now in disarray and we’re in danger of being turned over by the Italians, it’ll take a massive effort and we need to go back to basics and play to our strengths and make the opposition think.

A bad day at the office.

Match Summary:

Ireland: (11) 31
Tries: Wallace, Horgan, Stringer
Pens: O'Gara 4
Cons: O'Gara 2

Wales: (5) 5 Tr

Try: M Jones

Ireland: Murphy; Horgan, B O'Driscoll (capt), D'Arcy, Trimble; O'Gara, Stringer; Horan, Flannery, Hayes; O'Callaghan, O'Kelly; S Easterby, Wallace, Leamy.
Replacements: R Best for Horan (69), M O'Driscoll for Easterby (77), O'Connor for Wallace (75).

Wales: Byrne; M Jones, Luscombe, Watkins, James; S Jones, Peel; D Jones, R Thomas, A Jones; Gough, Sidoli; Charvis, M Williams, Owen (capt).
Replacements: B Davies for Byrne (73), Henson for S Jones (19), Jenkins for D Jones (46), M Davies for R Thomas (61), Delve for Charvis (56).

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