Scotland v Wales winners and losers: Scottish backs ‘deserve a massive bunch of flowers’ while ‘silly’ Welsh forwards boost Lions chances
Jac Morgan and Blair Kinghorn after Scotland v Wales
Following Scotland’s 35-29 win over Wales in round four of the Six Nations, here are our key winners and losers from Murrayfield.
Winners
Blair Kinghorn
If he wasn’t nailed on to start for the Lions this summer already, he surely is now. He has just grown exponentially since moving to Toulouse last season, but that has also seen him become a pivotal member of this Scotland side too. Blair Kinghorn was just everywhere in his side’s attack against Wales, nabbing a nifty brace and taking home the Player of the Match award in the process. As Planet Rugby features editor Jared Wright said in his player ratings, he might as well get measured for his Lions Test jersey.
Darcy Graham
I’ll never get tired of writing about how good Darcy Graham is at rugby, and his performance against Wales deserves a massive bunch of flowers. There are shades of Shane Williams in the way he dances about defences and wiggles his way through space, which would have hurt Wales fans no end, and he just adds a fresh dynamic to the Scotland attack as a result. To do this too after suffering a serious head knock against Ireland and missing the England Test deserves some serious praise.
Huw Jones
His Lions stock just continues to rise with every Test, and it’s looking like he will be in Andy Farrell’s starting XV now. He has just taken this Championship by the scruff of the neck in the absence of Sione Tuipulotu and really become the focal point of this Scotland attack. Tom Jordan (who we’ll come onto) might have taken the headlines with his tries, but Jones was also remarkable.
Tom Jordan
Speaking of Jordan, the Kiwi-born back was another real bright spark in Scotland’s delicious attack. Since taking the starting 12 jersey, he has given their backline an entirely different look and added some real pizzazz as a result. His versatility also came to the fore as he slotted in at fly-half.
Jac Morgan
We’re starting to run out of superlatives to describe Jac Morgan, but he was absolutely spellbinding once again against Scotland. He was just immense on both sides of the ball in a losing cause, to the point where you think where would Wales be without him. It’s getting silly now from the skipper, who will no doubt be in the Lions Test side this summer.
Taulupe Faletau
God, he’s good at rugby, isn’t he? Yet again Taulupe Faletau just proves he is still a seriously world-class Test operator as he put in a sensational performance in a defeat. After watching him this Six Nations, you wouldn’t have even thought he’d not won a cap since their victory over Georgia in the World Cup. Is he now a leading contender for the Lions’ number eight jersey?
Dafydd Jenkins
For those of the Exeter persuasion, this performance has come as no surprise, but he yet again put in a proper workhorse performance for his team. Absolutely ran his blood to water in a barnstorming defensive performance, which no doubt would have pricked the ears of Farrell. Rob Baxter feels he will be a Lion one day, maybe he will become one this summer…
Blair Murray
Jumping his way over Scottish defenders and into our winner’s column this week, Blair Murray was a real livewire against Scotland. He was a persistent threat ball-in-hand, and looked to break away with virtually every carry. This was also the latest in a line of good performances at this level, which will please the Welsh rugby public no end.
Losers
WillGriff John
Scrummaged very well, again, but his yellow card proved fairly costly for his side and allowed Scotland to put the contest to bed. Whilst this might not seem all that bad, the fact it came just one Test after he earned remarkable praise is a real let-down.
Gareth Anscombe
Just wasn’t able to have any impact on the game, and his side probably looked better when he was off the pitch. To be fair, Scotland were unplayable at times, but he just couldn’t match the exploits of opposite number Finn Russell. A shame, after his great return to the Test stage against Ireland.
Max Llewellyn
Following in the footsteps of his Gloucester clubmate, Max Llewellyn didn’t have the same effect on the game as he did last weekend. He was caught out a couple of times in defence, which in turn allowed the Scotland pairing to bolt through and cause chaos. Without sounding like a broken record, it’s a real shame to see this after what he did against Ireland.
Rory Darge
You start to feel for Rory Darge now, with his injury stopping any chance to prove a point against Morgan for that Lions spot. Whilst he has been steady this Six Nations, it feels like every week another Lions competitor leapfrogs him in the pecking order.
Scotland bench
Planet Rugby features editor Wright described their performance as ‘shameful’, and whilst I might not go that far I do share the same sort of sentiment. Scotland just looked awful when the bench came on, losing their attacking shape and getting nowhere near the same change up front either, and to be honest this isn’t the first time they’ve failed this Six Nations. The same thing happened against England in the narrow loss, and you can easily make the case they didn’t have a great outing against Ireland and Italy too. Gregor Townsend has taken a swipe at the way other teams use their bench, but he might start turning his attention closer to home now after this latest poor performance.
