#21 26th November 2024
Good morning team, welcome to Tuesday on the fourth week of the end of year northern tour. There’s a sombre air to the Wallabies news this week after a loss to the Scottish at Murrayfield. It was a bit of a reality check for the Wallabies, with changes to the starting side and new players coming on to the bench. If you haven’t had a chance to review Nutta’s excellent match review, you should check it out over here. Congratulations to Harry Potter for making his debut, he’s Wallaby number 989.
We’ll put up our player ratings for the Wallabies from the Scottish game, and then cover some other news from around the globe, including the World Rugby awards.
Wallabies Player Ratings
The Wallabies were outplayed by the Scottish pretty much across the park, including defensively, lineouts, penetration through the midfield, discipline, and decision making. I’ve applied the G&GR rating system for this.
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
0 – Didn’t make it on, or no meaningful involvement
- Angus Bell – A better performance from Bell in the scrum this week, but didn’t have his usual impact around the field. Gave away a couple of penalties in the ruck/tackle area. Score: 5
- Brandon Paenga-Amosa – BPA got a start with Faessler out injured, gave away a couple of lineouts in the first half, and didn’t have a lot of impact in the loose. Scrum was solid in the first half. Score: 5
- Allan Alaalatoa – Held up the scrum in the first half, but didn’t really seem able to impose himself on the game. Score: 5
- Lukhan Salakaia-Loto – Got a start in place of Jeremy Williams and was a physical presence around the field. Score 6
- Will Skelton – Better game for the giant lock, disrupted the Scottish maul and carried strongly. A 50 plus minute effort by Skelton and was one of Australia’s best. Score 7
- Rob Valetini – Another industrious effort by Bobby V, strong carries and good defence. His chase back to tackle the Scottish winger was all effort, and his kick through from a lineout turnover almost sparked a Wallabies revival. Replaced with 20 to go. Score 7
- Carlo Tizzano – Got another start in place of Fraser McReight, it’s not clear if it was injury or rotation. Gave it everything, and was hard on the ball. Score 7
- Harry Wilson – Another good game from the skipper. Has become a genuine lineout option, and while the ball didn’t find him in the first 20, made plenty of runs in the second half. His presence of mind to call a mark when the ball hit the upright was excellent. Loses a point for not taking the 3 points early in the game. Score 7
- Jake Gordon – The commissioner was back into the side and was good at the ruck clearances, but didn’t really offer a running threat to change the picture for the defence. Score: 5
- Noah Lolesio – Started poorly with the first kick off and didn’t seem to recover his mojo with poor kicking from hand by his standards throughout the game. Was outplayed in every facet by Finn Russell. Score 4
- Harry Potter – Some nice touches and a try on debut. It was his job to contain his opposite number Graham, who has electric feet, and he struggled. Showed great pace and control for his try. Score 5
- Len Ikitau – The bedrock of the backline and had to adjust to JAS leaving the field early. Some good carries, but a very unusual miss in defence for Scotland’s first try. Score 7
- Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii – Some positive touches in attack while he was on the field. Put a great shot on Tuipulotu, which proved to be his undoing. Looked like he broke his arm, but later news is that it might be a stinger and may be available against Ireland. Left the field at 30 minutes. Score 4
- Andrew Kellaway – A shocker by his standards, missed seven tackles and didn’t adjust well to being pushed into outside centre. Score: 3
- Tom Wright – Less effective than previous weeks in attack, and couldn’t find a way to get into the game. Should be scored up a point for the abuse he copped from the crowd for standing his ground when White took a dive. Score: 5
- Billy Pollard – Was a late call up to the squad with the injury to Faessler.
- Isaac Kailea – The scrum was less stable with the replacement front row. Both props were penalised while in good field position on Scotland’s feed. Score: 4
- Zane Nonggorr – The scrum was less stable with the replacement front row. Both props were penalised while in good field position on Scotland’s feed. Score: 4
- Nick Frost – Replaced Will Skelton and tried hard to turn the game in Australia’s direction. Made tackles and carried the ball as required. Score: 5
- Langi Gleeson – Replaced Valetini at the hour mark, and tried hard to get involved, but couldn’t change the momentum late in the game. A loose carry while Australia was on attack. Score: 4
- Tate McDermott – A real rocks and diamonds game from Tate, a very poor attempted cross field kick when Australia looked certain to score, balanced by a good grubber kick for Potter’s try. Couldn’t find his usual running game to threaten the line. Score: 4
- Ben Donaldson – Was on late for Noah, and maybe should’ve been on earlier at centre when JAS went off. Not enough time to change the game. Score: 5
- Max Jorgensen – Got an extended hit out after JAS left the field. Did what was expected, but couldn’t find the level of impact that he had against England. Score: 5
The best Australian on the field was Tuipulotu; unfortunately, he was playing for the Scots.
The Wallabies have another tough test next week against Ireland, and hopefully they’ll be better than this week. We’ll do player ratings for the Irish game and then a summary of the year in the following week.
World Rugby Awards
Madi Levi joined some elite company by named the World Sevens Women’s Player of the Year. She follows in the footsteps of Charlotte Caslick and Emilee Cherry, who have previously won this award. Levi had an amazing year, with her 69 tries helping Australia win the world series and also scored 14 tries at the Olympics. Her total tries for the year and her Olympics haul are the highest totals by an individual, men or women, and she also made the Women’s Sevens team of the year. At just 22, she surely has more records in her future, it’s hard to say enough good things about Levi, she really does break games open.
Antoine Dupont was named Men’s Sevens Player of the Year.
In other news from the awards night, Emilee Cherry was inducted to the hall of fame for her career achievements, and Nathan Lawson was named in the Men’s Sevens team of the year.
In non-Australian achievements, Peter Steph du Toit was named the men’s 15s player of the year and England’s Ellie Kildunne was named the women’s 15s player of the year.
In what must have been a close contest, Ireland’s Erin King was voted the best young player for the year, ahead of Australia’s Caitlyn Halse. Halse had a great year for the Wallaroos, and we should expect to see here in gold for some time to come.
That’s a wrap
That’s a wrap for this week. As always, thanks for reading, I’ll be interested in your thoughts on player ratings as everyone has a different view.
