Starters
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1. Scott Sio
Another seven for Sio, he was dominant on his side of the scrum and busy around the park, he also assisted a key tackle, holding up George North whilst they had a two man advantage. 62mins for 7 tackles. 7[/one_third][one_third last=”no”]
2. Stephen Moore
Moore followed up his good form from last week with another great display. The cuts to his bald head showed his grit and determination and his respectful but direct communications with Joubert went a long way to ensuring the win. (Marched ten metres for slowing the play, but no marks off as it didn’t put the kicker in range.) 66mins for 7 tackles. 7[/one_third][one_third last=”yes”]
3. Sekope Kepu
Lay-ed the platform in the scrums, needed treatment a few times on his ribs (is he okay). Almost saved the day by scooping one into touch only to knock on. 55mins for 5 tackles. 6[/one_third][one_third last=”no”]
4. Kane Douglas
“Dare-Devil Douglas” or Dougy as he likes to be called, has done it again. Ferocious for the whole 80 minutes, topped the tackle count with 15, one of those (with the help of Moore) was a try saver on Liam Williams. 8[/one_third][one_third last=”no”]
5. Dean Mumm
Unlucky yellow card (softer than QC’s v Uruguay) put us under immense pressure, but with 20/20 hindsight a Wallaby supporter wouldn’t change a thing. He won a turnover which was my take on his inclusion over Simmons with Hooper out. Not subbed 9 tackles for his 70mins. 6[/one_third][one_third last=”yes”]
6. Scott Fardy
One sparkle away from a seven last week, everywhere for 80mins this week. Scotty was two tackles off Douglass effort and went toe to toe with Pocock forcing two clutch turnovers. Changed the match when he gifted the Wallabies an insanely valuable 3 points early in the 2nd half after being illegally cleaned out, putting them up by six. 9 – G&GR MOTM[/one_third][one_third last=”no”]
7. Sean McMahon
Really tried to replicate Hooper’s presence in the team, came out chasing kick off and trying to fire his team up on defence. Gave away a ruck penalty right in front of sticks. He’ll be 25 at the Japan World Cup. 48 minutes for 7 tackles. 6[/one_third][one_third last=”no”]
8. David Pocock
Our best ball runner against what was, until the final ten minutes, exceptionally good Welsh defence. That coupled with a couple of almost expected Pocock steals to relieve the pressure. 10 tackles in his 59 minutes… Here’s hoping his calves are too big for a tear to keep him out of the game next week. 7[/one_third][one_third last=”yes”]
9. Will Genia
Good service despite exceptional Welsh line-speed, which can’t be said for others outside him, a great bootlace tackle on Faletau taking the ball out of a scrum in the red zone early in the 2nd half. He’s already come out and said he’d give away that yellow again, but I think he would have been regretting it, especially when Mumm came and sat next to him. A trademark snipe away from a seven. 6[/one_third][one_third last=”no”]
10. Bernard Foley
We were looking for consistency from Foley but only got it on defence. He was very good with an early try saver, holding up of George North the highlight, 6/6 tackles. Needed more variety in attack (there was space behind the ruck) and when shifting it wide needed to be more accurate. Had a clearance charged down and kicked 5/6 penalties. 6[/one_third][one_third last=”no”]
11. Drew Mitchell
Didn’t have too many chances but made one great line-break out of nothing beating three defenders on a kick return. Unfortunately this was only one of two carries in his 66 minutes on the field and he was only 5/7 in the tackling department. 5[/one_third][one_third last=”yes”]
12. Matt Giteau
Lucky he got lots of practise in with his clean up work last game. Giteau must have one of the hardest chests to hit with a rugby ball, but did well with the terrible passing he got. Good kicking game, featuring a right-foot clearance and half ending 56m attempted penalty (should have used his right). Like Mitchell Giteau also fell off two tackles (6/8) in his 66 minutes. 6[/one_third][one_third last=”no”]
13. Tevita Kuridrani
His distribution was way off but passes too him were far from perfect and the wingers were all too flat for how Wales was defending. Still made 21m with 3 runs and 8/8 tackles in what is the hardest position to defend. Played the whole 80mins. 6[/one_third][one_third last=”no”]
14. Adam Ashley-Cooper
A few fantastic early involvements before going a bit quiet. A dumb penalty in the side when the ball hadn’t come out of a welsh ruck was the catalyst for the double yellow card period. Good line speed however shut down a welsh back-line move and allowed Beale to force a penalty. Whole 80 minutes, became the captain when Moore came off, 6/7 tackling. 6[/one_third][one_third last=”yes”]
15. Israel Folau
Our most dangerous back, with ball in hand, really stood up (albeit on one ankle) late in the game. Obviously playing injured with no substitutes left, regathered a chip kick when he had no right to and deserved a consolation try but slipped (blame the dodgy ankle) late in the game. 65 run metres, 2 line-breaks, 4 tackle busts and 4/4 tackles. 7[/one_third]
Finishers
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16. Tatafu Polota-Nau
Seamless replacement for Moore, came on and packed straight down into a seven-man 5m defensive scrum. Some good carries late in the game, one crooked line out, played 14 minutes. 6[/one_third][one_third last=”no”]
17. James Slipper
Another seamless replacement, played 18 minutes helped turn the screws on our scrum dominance. 6[/one_third][one_third last=”yes”]
18. Greg Holmes
Came on for Kepu for a crunch 25 minutes. Spent most of the time camped on our try line with one less player helping him in the scrums. Didn’t really put a foot wrong and made 7/7 tackles in a very short amount of time. 7[/one_third] [one_third last=”no”]
19. Rob Simmons
Played 21 solid minutes coming on for the injured Pocock. 5/5 tackles and some good presentation of the ball when he did have a chance to have a run. 6[/one_third][one_third last=”no”]
20. Ben McCalman
32 minutes, 9/9 tackles. His defence when we were two players down prevented two certain Welsh tries, he some how got across to stop Davies on the blind-side of a 7 man scrum and also held North up when he was charging over after a line-break. 8[/one_third][one_third last=”yes”]
21. Nick Phipps
Came on and played a relatively error free 13 minutes. No Rating[/one_third] [one_third last=”no”]
22. Kurtley Beale
Who’d have bet on Beale of all players to force a penalty at the ruck to win us the game, played 14 minutes. No Rating[/one_third][one_third last=”no”]
23. Matt Toomua
Came on for the same length of time as Beale, made 1/1 tackle. No Rating[/one_third][one_third last=”yes”]
[/one_third]
THE PATENTED G&GR RATINGS GUIDE:
10 – A legendary performance to go down in the history books
9 – Outstanding performance: Man of the match shoo-in
8 – Excellent all-round game
7 – Good game with a few sparkles
6 – Solid performance
5 – Average – ho hum
4 – Below par
3 – Had a bad game
2 – Tell your story walking pal
1 – A complete joke
