By Export
April 10 2006

Message board stalwart Export joins in with the player ratings with Zippy. See who you agree/disagree with, as usual marks out of 10.

Export's:
1 - Duncan Jones 6/10 - Did Ok most of the game until the substitutions, not as dynamic in the loose as he usually is.
2 - Rhys Thomas 6/10 - Again, nothing special to his performance. Wonky lineouts likely not his fault most of the time.
3 - Adam Jones 7/10 - Probably Wales' best player yesterday. Good in the scrum and desperately applied himself in the mauls.
4 - Ian Gough 5/10 - Won ball at lineout, was suitably aggressive, but was never going to match the power of the English second row.
5 - Robert Sidoli 2.5/10 - Was he on the pitch? Was a passenger. His calling of the lineout and own performance was highly suspect. If we had anyone else who could play there, we really should.
6 - Colin Charvis 3/10 - Anonymous, except when giving away penalties. Amazing how his form deserted him as soon as the whistle went. Was maybe having to cover for others too much and being stretched thin.
7 - Martin Williams 3/10 - Good support for the try, stupidity for the yellow (harsh, but understandable).
8 - Michael Owen 3/10 - Won a lineout now and again, but seemed to have not brought his brain. Knocked back too often and his lack of physical power was shown up in a game like this. Was a passenger that the other two backrowers had to cover for which ended up destroying any balance we had there. A crying shame that Delve and Ryan Jones are both out.
9 - Dwayne Peel 6.5/10 - Exceptional break for the try, substitution was puzzling. What should he do with that quality of ball? Passing was a little more erratic than usual.
10 - Stephen Jones 6/10 - Solid in defence mostly, uninspired in attack - but again with the back 5 forwards being so poor it wasn't surprising. Was lucky not to get a card for the mouthful he gave the ref after being obstructed from tackling Dayglo by Mr. Honiss.
11 - Shane Williams 5.5/10 - Not much ball, some good, some bad. Pretty ineffective.
12 - Matthew Watkins 5.5/10 - Not much chance to go forward as was too busy being sucked into defense. Not the revolving door I feared, but can't help feeling that Henson would have done better (and it hurt to say that).
13 - Hal Luscombe 5/10 - Offered even less going forward, did plenty of tackling.
14 - Mark Jones 6/10 - Looked quick in the first 2 minutes. Not much to do apart from defensively the rest of the game where he looked solid, but not much else.
15 - Gareth Thomas 4/10 - His worst game in ages. Made a few tackles, but was obviously unfit and should not have been in the 22. His decision making has to be questioned. Suffering from being overplayed in France whilst being obviously injured and from being dosed up for a bug. Was directly at fault for the first try, tried his heart out as always but this time was not physically in the condition to do more.

Zippy Ratings:

1. D Jones (7) - Did well and put himself about, keeps getting better in the tight.

2. R Thomas (5) - Has to take some of the blame for the line out and didn't really impose himself in the tight, still young so will improve but is there any other option?

3. A Jones (7) - Sheridan?? If only he had another bow to his game outside of the scrum he'd be an asset.

4. I Gough (4) - Tries hard and plays with his heart but not classy enough for this.

5. R Sidoli (3) - What happened to the hard man from Merthyr? Did little of note and should be ashamed of that, a shadow of the player he was in 2003.

6. C Charvis (5) - No grunt, he plays and does well against these players week in week out, was he not up for it or something?

7. M Williams (5) - Marked down for getting binned, otherwise a decent game.

8. M Owen (4) - Ineffective behind a pack who didn't want to battle, perhaps move to the 2nd row and bring in Delve?

9. Peel (7) - At his sniping best for the try, bizarre decision to take him off

10. Jones (7) - Tackled his heart out, didn't have the quality of ball to get the backs going.

11. S Williams (6) - Looked a danger tried a few things and they didn't come off, can't fault him for that.

12. MJ Watkins (5) - Ineffective and lateral

13. H Luscombe (5) - No ball and not sure he and MJ are going to work, prob deserve another chance as they didn't have any decent ball.

14. M Jones (7) - Back with a bang, gas galore, get him the ball in space

15. Alfie (5) - OK in attack but fell off tackles and wasn't quite himself, he is the heart of the side so we need him firing.

Subs of Note:

None

Eng Stars:

2nd rows - Dominated

Hodgson - Starting to look the real deal

Overall Comments:

That is the most toothless performance I have seen from Wales in some time, the pack were a waste of space and were simply not up for the challenge and got steamrolled, its ok to play an open game but you have to have the forward platform and that means running into the heart of the opposition and making them go backwards, Wales were predictable and aimless.

Still this doesn't have to be the end of the season, Ruddock isn't stupid and I'm sure for next week we'll go back to basics for the Scotland game and try and get the only thing that matters - The W.

England played well, very well. Wales' forwards certainly believed the hype, I'm still not sure and their test will be when they go to Paris, they also need a pair of centres, but they are going in the right direction.

Match Summary: