Wales player ratings: Dewi Lake’s ‘mare’ sums up another ‘dreadful’ night as Steve Tandy’s charges ‘outclassed’ by England
Wales players Alex Mann, Dan Edwards, Nicky Smith and inset of captain Dewi Lake.
Following another demoralising 48-7 Wales defeat, here’s how we rated Steve Tandy’s charges in their Six Nations opener against England at Allianz Stadium.
Wales player ratings
15 Louis Rees-Zammit: Precious few opportunities to really stretch his legs, particularly in the first half, as England simply outmuscled and suffocated the Welsh. He had a kick charged down and overran his support line off Ben Thomas’ shoulder, which was ruthlessly punished. Decent in the air and was Wales‘ best on attack, though that’s not saying much. 6
14 Ellis Mee: At sixes and sevens so often on defence as England managed to repeatedly isolate the winger who really couldn’t do much to plug the floodgates. Reasonable under the high ball and starved of possession. Just not his night overall as his teammates didn’t give him much of a chance, as Henry Arundell ran in a hat-trick down his channel. 3
13 Eddie James: Like many of his teammates, the effort was certainly there, but was simply outclassed and overwhelmed by a comfortably better England outfit that is far further along in their development. Won a nice penalty after the hour mark in his own 22. 5
12 Ben Thomas: Gifted England a try with a diabolically bad pass intended for Rees-Zammit, but only found grass. That was simply unacceptable for a ‘playmaking’ inside centre. England’s attack managed to find holes between him and James. Yellow carded in the final quarter as the pressure told. 3
11 Josh Adams: Not a single carry in the first half as England bossed possession, but did get his mitts on it to score in the second. The hosts got more purchase from the right side of Wales’ attack than the left, which is a credit to Adams. 5
10 Dan Edwards: Shot up bravely on defence, but so often was just a training cone or speed bump for the English attack. Some decent kicks littered throughout his shift, including a pinpoint accurate one for Adams’ try, giving the Welsh fans a rare opportunity to cheer. Brave is a running theme of this Welsh performance, but they were outplayed and Edwards couldn’t turn the tide alone. 5
9 Tomos Williams: Arguably Wales’ best in Twickenham, as the British and Irish Lions scrum-half kicked well out of hand, asking questions of the English backfield. He tested the fringes on occasion but the ill-discipline spoiled anything he attempted to create. He is the player that Wales must centre their game around. 6
First-half Henry Arundell hat-trick lights up England as sorry Wales cop another heavy loss
Forwards
8 Aaron Wainwright: One of the go-to ball carriers, he produced another relentless performance. Is another example of the quality that Wales have at their disposal, as he got through a ton of work on both sides of the ball. 6
7 Josh Macleod: Plugged Jac Morgan’s void making his Six Nations debut and earning just his fifth cap. He has long been overlooked by the national team despite his club form. Whilst he did get involved with a lot, his efforts weren’t rewarded and he struggled to influence the breakdown as he usually does at club level. 5
6 Alex Mann: Lively as ever and got into the faces of the England players, earning a penalty off Ellis Genge after getting under the loosehead’s skin in the first half. He is another player who should be used to build their team around, but like many of his teammates, nothing really came off for him here. 4
5 Adam Beard: Will have to cop some of the blame for the lineout struggles, but he threw his weight around reasonably well and was busy at the breakdown. One of the more experienced members of the team, he got stuck into the thick of it. 5
4 Dafydd Jenkins: The better lineout option for his side, a relentless tackler too. Worked right up until the final whistle and hardly the reason for the margin of the defeat. 6
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3 Archie Griffin: England had the upper hand in the scrums, although they didn’t completely dominate the set-piece. A wilful tackler but otherwise not much to write home about. 5
2 Dewi Lake (c): Usually Wales’ most consistent, accurate and frankly best players, but the skipper endured a nightmarish first half with average lineout darts, a spell in the sin-bin and a failed tap-and-go which denied his side a late first half try. Quiet upon his return. His display summed up a dreadful night for the visitors. 3
1 Nicky Smith: A quiet shift overall from the loosehead prop, who also spent 10 minutes in the sin bin. 4
Replacements: Taine Plumtree was once again yellow-carded and conceded a penalty try for his high shot on Henry Pollock. The positive that Tandy can take away is the bench did stifle the rate of English scoring for a good chunk of the second half before two late tries, but it was pretty much one-way traffic from start to finish. 4