Australia player ratings: ‘Venomous’ Tom Wright gets a perfect score as ‘fridge with arms and legs’ Will Skelton anchors maul success
Split with Australia's Will Skelton and Tom Wright.
Following Australia’s powerful 52-20 drumming of Wales in Cardiff, here are our player ratings for Joe Schmidt’s Wallabies side.
Slick backline
15 Tom Wright: Absolutely venomous! The full-back was named man-of-match thanks to a hat-trick of tries where he broke the line three times, beat five defenders and made a disgusting 245 metres with ball in hand. It was easily his best Test match for Australia and one that shows the value of a heads-up player even in the ultra-technical modern era of rugby. 10
14 Andrew Kellaway: The wing may not have thrown his name in lights like Wright but he did carry well, looked for work and showed his experience by popping up at key moments. His older head adds such balance to the back-three. 7
13 Len Ikitau: Anyone who thought ‘Flikitau’ was done after his heroic assist last time out was wrong. He changed numbers on his back and played even better as he was oozing with confidence. The way he danced around Cam Winnett was filthy and this shift shows that Ikitau is a rock for the Wallabies midfield. 8
Wallabies run riot in EIGHT-TRY victory over Wales as pressure mounts on Warren Gatland
12 Samu Kerevi: He was relishing his return until he was sent-off for a dangerous tackle. There was no malice but it was red. 4
11 Max Jorgensen: Easy to see why there is so much hype around the young man; he is fast, clever in his decision making and has the skills to execute. He was solid enough this evening and didn’t need to score a dramatic winner. 6
10 Noah Lolesio: Credit to coach Schmidt for sticking with Lolesio because the fly-half was commanding tonight against Wales. It was probably his best outing for Australia with two try assists and a decent enough night off the tee to show for it. Lolesio has internalised the multi-phase attacking structure and will play his best rugby in the next 18 months. 8
9 Nic White: A wise selection and one that paid off through his experience until he left the field through injury. It was not perfect from White but an accomplished performance where he controlled the game well enough. 6
8 Rob Valetini: Genuinely could copy and paste our standard blurb for Valetini. The only reason for that is he is outstanding, every single game he carries hard and makes a boatload of tackles. We have said it before and we will say it again, he is a coach’s dream regardless of what number is on his back. 8
7 Fraser McReight: 22 tackles. Those are the numbers you want from your openside. McReight has really embraced life post-Michael Hooper and is a valuable member of this growing Wallabies side. It is brilliant to watch the scrum-capped back-row get down to work. 8
6 Seru Uru: Just a really big man who loves to carry. Credit to Uru as he did not look at all like a player in his first Test start with few errors in his game. Perhaps not as prominent as the other loose forwards but still effective. 6
5 Will Skelton: A fridge with arms and legs. While a lot of his game revolves around his size, Skelton’s true value is in the fine detail where he consistently makes good decisions and rarely makes errors. His influence on the maul both defending and attacking showed is spadefuls tonight. He defines world-class and loves to wear Wallabies gold which showed tonight. 8
4 Nick Frost: If you google ‘poetry in motion’ the clip of the second-row galloping 50+ metres to score his try will be the first search result. Nothing else needs to be said. 8
👏 The second rower runs it in from 50m!
🇦🇺 The @wallabies score 2 tries in 2 minutes at the Principality!#AutumnNationsSeries | #WALvAUS pic.twitter.com/VGVsXMCMaR
— Rugby on TNT Sports (@rugbyontnt) November 17, 2024
3 Allan Alaalatoa: While it is mainly a bed of roses for this Wallabies ratings, the two props have to take responsibility for getting monstered by Wales in the scrum. In fairness, it mostly came on the other side but Alaalatoa was less prevalent in other areas of the game anyway. 5
2 Matt Faessler: The first hooker in Wallabies history to score a hat-trick! Faessler was pin-point in the set-piece and made few errors otherwise. 8
1 Angus Bell: From one of his best performances last week to not so much this week. He got destroyed in the scrum but showed of his mobility and ball-carrying ability when he got the chance. 5
Replacements: Tate McDermott as usual added some serious pace off the bench and set-up a lovely try. Lukhan Salakaia-Loto was the other bench star to make key contributions while the rest ticked the boxes for the most part. 6
