Wallabies player ratings: Painful poor performances all round as front-row fails ‘baptism of fire’
Allan Alaalatoa during a Wallabies Test.
Following the Wallabies’ 33-7 loss to the Springboks in the Rugby Championship, here are our player ratings for Joe Schmidt’s men.
Flat backline
15 Tom Wright: A quiet outing from the full-back who was not given much to work with all game long. Played the final pass in the Wallabies’ only try in an otherwise average shift. 4
14 Andrew Kellaway: Can’t see why he was shaking his head over being yellow-carded for his tackle on Cobus Reinach as he was lucky not to see red. Ineffective on the whole in general play. 3
13 Len Ikitau: A relatively quiet shift in the midfield where he was outshone by his opposite number. Beat a few defenders but nothing else to report. 4
12 Hunter Paisami: The sole try scorer and one of the few players to truly make an impact on the game with some solid carry metres and tackle count. Still did not set the world alight. 6
11 Filipo Daugunu: It is brutal when a wing only gets one carry all game long. That alone sums it up for the Wallaby. 4
10 Noah Lolesio: Did not have much chance to get in the game or influence it when he did have the ball in hand. The fly-half received a lot of traffic from the monstrous Springboks forwards and it showed with four missed tackles. 4
9 Jake Gordon: Didn’t kick well for a lot of the game and the impact of Tate McDermott showed that the scrum-half could have done more with what he had. 3
Forward pack
8 Harry Wilson: Fairly industrious on the day as he put his hand up to carry and make his tackles but ultimately could not dramatically influence the game. 4
7 Carlo Tizzano: A bit of a slow start in the first half but grew into the game, showing glimpses of his breakdown prowess and ending with a high tackle count of 19. Always difficult to debut against such a strong pack. 6
6 Rob Valetini: Not as impactful as he usually is as the Springboks nullified his threat brilliantly. We expected him to play a more physical role in this one but he still did make a lot of tackles. 5
5 Lukhan Salakaia-Loto: Got through a lot of work defensively but it was difficult for the second-row otherwise as the tight five of the Wallabies struggled. 4
4 Nick Frost: Copy and paste the blurb from his second-row partner with one less tackle. 4
Fragile front-row
3 Allan Alaalatoa: It was a day to forget for the skipper who was at the receiving end of a powerful Ox Nche scrummaging effort conceding three scrum penalties in Brisbane. 2
2 Matt Faessler: Fairly quiet throughout and struggled to match up to either of the Springboks’ hookers. His defensive work rate was less than it usually is. 3
1 Isaac Kailea: Baptism of fire in his first start against Frans Malherbe and it showed in the scrums. He is a developing star and one who will learn a lot from this game. 2
Replacements: McDermott was brilliant in elevating the attack as was Dylan Pietsch at times although the outside back did have some soft errors in the red zone. Not much notable impact otherwise. 5