11 November 2025
Good Morning GAGRs, and welcome to another Tuesday rugby news. We are closing in on the end of the year, which seems to be merciful for us Wallabies fans as it has been tough going in recent Weeks / months.
It’s remembrance day today, and I will leave it to others to write about the reasons we acknowledge the day, the sacrifices that were made in the past, the sacrifices that all men and women who have served, or do serve make for us, and not least of all, the price paid by civilians across the globe as their countries and their lives were torn apart by war.
I would like to be able to point towards the Wallabies game on the weekend and the games coming up over the coming weeks and feel like the Wallabies are continuing to improve, but unfortunately, it feels like the Wallabies have hit the wall and need the season to end soon.
It’s a Tuesday, so we will do player ratings from the Wallabies game on the Weekend, but before we do that we’ll look at some news from around the grounds.
Wales vs Argentina
Well, despite beating Japan recently, Wales still have a lot of work to do as they seek to climb their way back up the ladder and challenge higher ranked teams. The final score was 52-28 in favour of Argentina, but it wasn’t all one way traffic for the visitors as Wales showed good early play, and scored 2 tries to draw level with Argentina at 14 all after 20 minutes. The Welsh second try included some great handling with offloads in contact, and good support play, and shows that Wales have some very good players.
The highlight of the first half has to be the try on half time, with Pablo Matera taking the kick off, breaking the line, and then propping just before half way to put in a perfect left foot kick for the winger Mateo Carreras to race onto, beat two defenders, and score an amazing try. What is it about number 8s who kick left footed, Matera, Harry Wilson, (Bobby V), John Roe, spring to mind, and I am sure there are others, that I can’t recall.
It was 31-14 to Argentina at half time, with Los Pumas delivering a hammer blow just before oranges.
Wales scored another 2 tries in the second half, and at one stage got the score back to 45-28 to before Argentina scored a they scored a late try to rack up their half century and continue a long run of home losses for Wales.
For the Welsh, their captain Jac Morgan was excellent, before he went off with a dislocated shoulder after scoring a great close range try. For Los Pumas, Matera was incredible, and the backs were sharp. One of the features of the match was the quality of the goal kicking, with the teams notching a 100% success rate including 7 conversions and 1 penalty to Argentina, and 4 conversions to Wales.
The final score was a record for Argentina over Wales, and it reflects the gulf in experience between the two sides, with Argentina having more than 900 test caps in the match day squad.
Wales will be looking to bounce back against Japan this weekend, but then they face Zealand and South Africa to round out the year.
Wallabies vs Italy – Wallaby Player ratings
As usual, in the week after a Wallabies test we’ll do player ratings. As a reminder, these are my ratings, based on watching the game on Sunday and rewatching the ball in play replay on Monday night. There was obviously some commentary on the match review on Sunday, and in the Monday news which I’ve taken into account. As always, we’re using the G&GR scoring system:
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 – a pass mark
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.
Italy vs Australia
- Angus Bell – Bell scored a very good try from close range, but looks to have hurt his shoulder in the process. We can only hope that it isn’t too serious and he doesn’t miss too many games. 5
- Matt Faessler – Scored the first try of the game and did his job around the field and in set piece. It’s good to see Faessler back in Wallaby Gold after an injury disrupted season. 5
- Taniela Tupou – The big man is continuing to build on recent good form in Gold. 5
- Nick Frost – Played the full game, and tried hard, but we didn’t get to see any of his trade mark pace and athleticism in attack. 5
- Jeremy Williams – Was replaced in the second half but did his best to disrupt lineouts and mauls. Was replaced in the second half. 5
- Tom Hooper – Was one of the Wallabies best, with dominant carries, tackles, and an 80 minute performance saw him switch into the second row. 7
- Fraser McReight – With Hooper, one of the Wallabies best on ground. His presence over the ball for defensive turn overs and his link play were on display. 7
- Harry Wilson – Not up to his usual standard. a knock on, some penalties conceded, and couldn’t lift his team when needed. Looks tired and in need of a rest. 4
- Jake Gordon. Like Wilson, looks to be trying, but should have been replaced earlier in the second half. A couple of kicks out on the full to compound the performance. 4
- Carter Gordon – A mostly positive return to rugby for Carter Gordon, as he looked good leading the attack for 54 minutes before succumbing to a leg injury. Some signs of rust, with kicks out on the full in the first half. 5
- Harry Potter – Not his best game in gold, looked to get involved, but couldn’t find a way to make a difference, a couple of errant kicks, and limited opportunities with the ball. 4
- Hunter Paisami – Was attributed a lot of the blame for the attacking play in the comments on Monday. Was relaced by Daugunu who was very good. 4
- Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii – Saw yellow for a high tackle, and couldn’t find a way to dominate with carries. Some good cover defending tackles but,
- Corey Toole – Chased everything, including making cover defending tackles. Needs to find a way to win more high balls, and find space to uses his pace. 4
- Andrew Kellaway – Tried to get into the line as the second playmaker, with little effect. 5
- Billy Pollard – was on at 63 minutes for Faessler, but couldn’t help to turn the tide as Italy won the replacements duel and the second half. 4
- Aidan Ross – was on early to replace Angus Bell and earned his second cap. 5
- Zane Nonggorr – was on at 46 minutes. Made some good runs, must have been ok because was confused for Bob Valetini a couple of times during the call. 5
- Rob Valetini – Came off the bench and tried hard to make a difference, but in the end, the benches and second half performance belonged to Italy. 5
- Pete Samu – Got 10 minutes on the field late. Was busy in attack and defence but couldn’t turn it around. 4
- Ryan Lonergan – Needed more time than 5 minutes off the bench at the end of the game. 5
- Tane Edmed – Was on earlier than expected with the injury to Carter Gordon, but couldn’t turn around the result once the subs starting coming on. 4
- Filipo Daugunu – Made a positive impact with some strong carries.
That’s a Wrap.
As always team, thanks for reading this far, have a great Tuesday, and look forward to the comments.
