By Zippy
June 18 2006

Player ratings for Wales in the 2nd test of this years summer tour to Argentina played in Buenos Aires. A very undisciplined Welsh side were put to the sword by a ruthless Argentina XV, the final score was 45-27 for details read on.

15. Lee Byrne (6) – Now really starting to look comfortable with the international game, little bit shaky under the high ball, scored a lovely consolation try at the end.

 

14. Mark Jones (3) – His worst game in the red shirt, pretty much non existent for the entire game.

 

13.Jamie Robinson (5) – No real chances to excel whilst he was on, good news is his knee injury was not too bad.

 

12. James Hook (3) – Took an age to kick the ball which was charged down and gave Argentina an easy try, got sin binned and missed his place kicks. Made a nice break at the end that brought his rating up slightly.

 

11. Shane Williams (8) – Wales MOTM by some distance, great try saving tackle and always provided an option when others heads were dropping, showed good strength for his try.

 

10. Nicky Robinson (3) – Should not have taken the field, was kicking off his right foot due to the extent of his thigh injury. Defence was decent enough.

 

9. Mike Phillips (3) – Not been a great tour for Phillips, had an awful platform, but even taking that into account his distribution was horrendous, hopefully he will have learnt from the magnificent Pichot.

 

8. Alix Popham (4) – Did the Argentinean mind games work during the week? Based on this toothless performance I’m inclined to say yes.

 

7. Gavin Thomas (3) = After last weeks decent showing his lack of ability at this level was shown up for the Lobbe try.

 

6. Alun Wyn Jones (3) – A young second row plugging a hole for his country so we can’t be too harsh, lacked the physicality and looked completely lost.

 

5. Ian Evans (5) – Quite a harsh sin binning but marked down for that nevertheless. One of few forwards to front up.

 

4. Ian Gough (5) – Showed the youngsters the commitment level that need to aspire to and tackled all day, his discipline was not good.

 

3. Adam Jones (3) – Worst performance in the red shirt for some time, gradually the scrum deteriorated and he cried off.

 

2. Huw Bennett (3) – I’d hoped he would be the answer for us at hooker, sadly the lineout & scrum suffered due to his inclusion. Hasn’t had a lot of rugby this season in his defence.

 

1. Duncan Jones (6) – Gave his all for a pack which was completely routed, kept going for the full 80mins and will be an integral part of this team for years to come.

 

Subs of note:

Delve – Bright performance, carried strongly and scored a good try.

Watkins – Had a chance at 13 but looked out of sorts and didn’t have much opportunity.

 

Argentina Stars:

Todeschini – Just didn’t miss

The Pack – Showed the force that they are.

 

Overall Comments:

What a difference a week makes…………….

This week was the worst Welsh performance since that day in South Africa in 1998, the pack were completely overrun and several individuals need to look at their level of commitment because if that is the best they can do in the red shirt then we may as well not bother. Argentina are no mugs but they brought on players from giant clubs such as Plymouth Albion???

Gyppo needs to think long and hard about his tactics, after last week the call was to go wider and that was correct but we once again forgot what got us into a winning position last week and that was that the pack fronted up and gained parity, this week it was shameful.

Congratulations to Argentina who I hope go on to give New Zealand a game next week, they have a great pack and a decent backline and given a good fixture list will continue to improve and are a great addition to the top level of world rugby.

For Wales back to the drawing board and we have to hope out top stars make successful returns from injury.

Argentina (16) 45
Tries: Tiesi (2), JM Fernandez Lobbe
Cons: Todeschini (3)
Pens: Todeschini (8)

Wales (6) 27
Tries: Delve, S Williams, L Byrne
Cons: N Robinson, Hook (2)
Pens: Hook (2)

Argentina: Martin Hernandez, Leonelli, G. Pedro Tiesi, G. Pedro Tiesi, Contepomi, Borges, Todeschini, Pichot, Longo-Elia, Durand, J. Fernandez Lobbe, Alvarez, I. Fernandez Lobbe, Scelzo, Ledesma, Roncero.
Subs: Gambarini, Ayerza, Carizza, Schusterman, Fernandez Miranda, Nunez Piossek, Serra Miras.

Sin Bin: Scelzo (57).

Wales: Byrne, M. Jones, J. Robinson, Hook, S. Williams, N. Robinson, Phillips, Popham, G. Thomas, A. Jones, Evans, Gough, A. Jones, Bennett, D. Jones.
Subs: Hibbard, Yapp, R. Thomas, Delve, A. Williams, Brew, Watkins.

Sin Bin: Evans (18), Hook (55).