England Player Ratings versus Wales

By Chris Chaplin
February 24 2003

Again I watched with baited breath to see what Woodward had in store for us and was somewhat underwhelmed, here are the player ratings for the England players against the Welsh.

Robbie Morris made a sound, if unspectacular debut. He held up his end of the scrummaging duties and supported well. Not bad at all for a first appearance. 5/10.

Steve Thompson while scrummaging pretty well and putting himself about in open play left something to be desired when it came to finding his target at the throw in and made the locks' job more difficult against a committed Welsh partnership. Not as good an all round performance as against the French. 6/10

Graham Rowntree had a good all round game and was particularly effective in the loose and around the breakdown where he could have been mistaken for a flanker. Did nothing to harm his chances of once again becoming part of the England 22 at the very least. 7/10

Martin Johnson had a good game, missed little in the lineout and was again a forceful presence in loose play. Rightly confused by referee Walsh's ability to see players in White shirts stamping but not those in Red. Kept his cool and his side together in spite of massive disruption as replacements flooded on. 7/10

Ben Kay seemed a little subdued at the Millenium Stadium. True the service from Thompson left something to be desired but he just didn't quite seem himself and couldn't impose himself on the Welsh throw ins. Came off with an injured hand which hopefully will not prevent him taking part in the cup semi-final. 6/10

Danny Grewcock looked sharp and at his aggressive best when he came on to replace Kay. He should have started. 7/10

Neil Back had another excellent game. Full of commitment, first rate on the ground and exciting in open play. Once he came off injured the back row's performance showed what an influential player he is at the breakdown. Another broken Tiger and looking to be out for some weeks. 8/10

Richard Hill had a typical gutsy game back at his best position until Back went off. First class in defence and in his support play. 8/10

Lawrence Dallaglio put in a dream performance at 8 until the disruption caused by Back's enforced departure. Some fabulous ball carrying, bone crunching defence and tireless support. Was my pick of the forwards and while we all know Brian Moore is as mad as a box of frogs how he could choose Sidoli over Lal was a mystery to behold. 9/10

Joe Worsley performed well once he came on and scored a real #8's try. Of course his arrival coincided with general disruption of the back row which until then had functioned superbly. Still second fiddle to Dalallglio though. 6/10

Kyran Bracken was not at his best, he was not cleaning out from the rucks fast enough and needed to be more committed to getting amongst the hands and boots. Saw little of him in open play and he seemed a bit out of sorts and match rusty against a fizzing Gareth Cooper. 5/10

Jonny Wilkinson had another (almost) faultless day with the boot and his two drop goals were absolute gems. Unfortunately the service from Bracken left almost as much to be desired as that from Gomersall the previous week and this, with a lack of support outside at 12 limited his attacking game somewhat, although he did try to go it alone and almost succeeded a couple of times. . 7/10

Charlie Hodgson was terrible. His defensive fraility almost resulted in a Welsh try that was only prevented in part by Robinson's injury inducing cover tackle. His kicking out of hand only functioned when he has eons of time for the execution and as a consequence he was lucky not to concede another charged down try. He added nothing in attack and was generally poor. I think he's a first rate club fly-half but have doubts as to whether he's international class (yet) in that position let alone at inside centre where this was only his second appearance at any senior level. Madness by Woodward and disaster for the lad. Let's hope that this is not another promising youngster destroyed by Woodward. I bet Maggs and O'Driscoll are salivating at the prospect of his still being there when England travel to Dublin. 3/10

Will Greenwood put in another top quality performance. His running lines were first class, he was strong in attack, defence and unselfish in support Arguably only he could have scored that try. Nigh on faultless. 9/10

Ben Cohen again saw too little ball but went looking for work in his customary manner. The problem at 12 meant that play was compressed in the centre of the pitch and as a consequence the wingers, both looking for the ball, drifted in. It was poor positional play from the big Winger caused by this inward drift that saw him miss a Welsh attacker, he was not "skinned" as the appalling Eddie Butler said. He then had to drop back to 15 to replace Robinson. This was not a classic display from Cohen but he did the best that he could given the midfield problems and banishment to 15 for the latter stages. 7/10

Dan Luger looked fitter and more decisive but was too predictable. He too often took the ball into contact and failed to offload in the tackle, often because he'd run away from his support. Again he seemed to drift out of the game in the second half. 6/10

Jason Robinson did his level best but sadly consigned to the boondocks his best is limited. A tremendously brave cover tackle played it's part in denying the Welsh a try however had he not been ably assisted he would have failed in that endeavour due to his stature. Of course when he went off the backline was terribly disrupted as Woodward had not provided cover for one of the most technically demanding positions, another stroke of tactical genius from the England coach! 7/10

Replacements. Well without any help from the quite dreadful BBC team of Butler and Moore, who did their level best to ruin the game for me, I really lost the plot, together with Woodward. I still don't know what Gomersall and Bracken were both doing on at the same time.

Team Performance
Another shambolic display behind the pack, which itself did well enough but was not as impressive as against the French with the line out being a particular area of disappointment. The half backs were just about OK but the whole edifice collapsed in the 10/12 area. If this is the blueprint for the so called RWC favourites don't waste your money on a punt at the current odds. 6/10

Man of The Match. Close call between Dallaglio and Greenwood. Greenwood by a whisker.