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Player Ratings: More humiliation for Gatland and Co

OPINION: Wales’ first-round performance didn’t go as planned, but Warren Gatland used his strong record against Scotland to his advantage and rang the changes in key positions.

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In the end, it was a horrible loss for Wales and an all-timer in poor performances for a lot of experienced players.

Scotland was better than Wales at literally everything – the only stat that Wales came out on top of was yellow cards.

Will Owen rates the Welsh players!

15 Liam Williams – 2.5
Made a great tackle on Huw Jones but struggled to back it up. Shanked a couple of kicks and copped a deserved yellow card.

14 Josh Adams – 5.5
Put in a fantastic chip to pressurise Duhan van der Merwe. Typically worked hard in D but was substituted quite early on.

13 George North – 4
Had a handful of decent carries before going off for an HIA. Anonymous in the second half aside from a penalty conceded.

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12 Joe Hawkins – 5.5
Had an alright first half but playing outside Biggar was a tough ask. Worked hard in defence and made a couple of good kicks.

11 Rio Dyer – 6
Started the game with a great read to shut down Kyle Steyn, but soon found himself on the wrong end of a Dan Biggar rollicking for a poor pass to put his 10 under pressure. Later made a fantastic try-saver on Steyn.

10 Dan Biggar – 2
Gave away a daft offside penalty, shanked a couple of kicks and flung a pass behind his back into touch on the stroke of halftime. Looked frustrated all first half. Was far from his best last week, but was an active problem today.

9 Tomos Williams – 4
Had a really tough ride with his pack being dominated, and struggled to get Wales going forward.

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1 Wyn Jones – 5
Worked overtime by covering an early Finn Russell cross-kick to Kyle Steyn. Ironically did some of the backs’ work for them.

2 Ken Owens – 5.5
Wales’ captain started with a mixed bag of fired-up carries and a not-straight throw. Finished Wales’ opening try.

3 Dillon Lewis – 4
Had parity at scrum time, didn’t make much of an impact around the park.

4 Dafydd Jenkins – 4.5
Jenkins is promising but raw, and gave away a few penalties. One of those tough games (against the experienced Richie Gray) that may be a necessary learning curve inside his first five caps.

5 Adam Beard – 4
Had a quiet game. It’s easier to cut Jenkins some slack on his third cap than a test Lion in Beard.

6 Christ Tshiunza – 6.5
Wales relied on Tshiunza at the lineout and Scotland knew this. In a game where Wales fans are clutching at straws for positives, you could at least see that Tshiunza was trying to get Wales moving forward.

7 Tommy Reffell – 5.5
Gave away an early penalty which Russell converted, but soon responded by winning a jackal turnover on halfway. Generally, though, he was outplayed by Jamie Ritchie.

8 Jac Morgan – 5
Came up with a crucial turnover and a few good carries, but was otherwise kept quiet by Scotland.

Replacements:

16 Scott Baldwin – N/A
No significant impact.

17 Rhys Carre – 5
Made two good carries after coming on then gave away two consecutive penalties. That averages out at a 5!

18 Leon Brown – 3
Dominated in his only scrum.

19 Rhys Davies – N/A

20 Taulupe Faletau – 5
Didn’t get many opportunities to change an abysmal game.

21 Rhys Webb – 2.5
It took some magic powder to make Wales’ ball even slower, but Webb brought his wand.

22 Rhys Patchell – 5
Possibly could have come on earlier, but unsurprisingly didn’t manage to get Wales moving.

23 Alex Cuthbert – 5
Ran a great line immediately after coming on, but that was more or less it.

By Will Owen, Rugbypass

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