Zippy's Player Ratings - Wales vs England

By Zippy
March 19 2007

Player ratings for the Wales 27 - 18 win against England at the Millennium Stadium on Saturday in the final game of this seasons RBS 6 nations games, for details read on.

15. K Morgan (7) - Great 6 nations for a player who deserved it, brave under the high ball and a few trademark breaks. Hope he stays injury free for the rest of his career.

14. M Jones (7)- Had one chance to score and was too flat, schoolboy wing error. Apart from that some decent work and really put some great hits in at the end.

13. T Shanklin (7) - Played well with Thomas despite being very similar

12. G Thomas (7) - Came in to captain the side in a position he should have played more for his country, solid if not spectacular and maturing into the captains role.

11. S Williams (7) - Given stick in some quarters but he is everything that the Welsh way is about, taking risks. On another day he'd have scored a hat trick.

10. J Hook (9) - The hype may well be justified, assured performance with the boot, great passer and certainly can run. Defence is raw but we may have the real deal.

9. D Peel (7) - Different player behind a pack winning ball, several lively breaks and looked to be enjoying it.

8. R Jones (7) - Once in the game he threw a silly miss pass that put Wales in danger but apart from that a much better performance carrying the ball and making yards.

7. M Williams (9) - Gave the young Tom Rees a lesson in what it takes to be a top class international openside, was part of everything that was good about Wales and was able to be seen at his best providing the link to keep moves going. Top tackler.

6. A Popham (7) - Increased his stock no end this 6 nations with his aggressive no nonsense style, seen him in Pen Y Fai this morning in a pair of shorts when there was snow up the Garw, a tough cookie.

5. AW Jones (8) - Came back from last weeks non entity in great style, was hugely pumped up and took the game to the English.

4. I Gough (6) - Used well in the lineout for a change and the usual consistent display from Gough.

3. C Horsman (8) - Perhaps trying to prove a point against his home nation, took the English scrum to shreds and did his work carrying. Predictably went off after 60mins.

2. M Rees (6) - Lineout faltered again but not as bad as it has, does good carrying work from the base and if we can get the lineout right we have a steady 2.

1. G Jenkins (6) - Much better scrum performance and gained revenge against Julian White for 2005, still not doing the work round the park.

Subs of note:

A Jones - Only sub to really get game time and did some carrying work and kept the scrum going

England Stars:

J Robinson - What a finish

Ellis - Livewire behind a beaten pack

Corry - Only forward to step up and carry

Overall Comments:

What a difference a week makes..................

This week the Welsh forwards were a much hungrier animal and played a good game, putting the hits in, disrupting English ball, hitting breakdowns and most importantly of all carrying the ball to give the backs space.

In my lifetime I've only ever seen Wales beat England by a point or 2 and it should have been a 20-30 point hammering on Sat so outplayed were the English.

But 1 game does not make a 6 nations and overall it was dismal, the same problems kept coming up week after week. The Welsh way does not mean playing with zero ball and just throwing the ball laterally it means the forwards doing the dirty stuff so the backs have ball and space. If they remember that we're a decent side who could upset a few at the world cup.

Match Summary:

Wales: (18) 27
Tries: Hook, Horsman
Con: Hook
Pens: Hook (4)
Drop-goal: Hook

England: (15) 18
Tries: Ellis, Robinson
Con: Flood
Pen: Flood
Drop-goal: Flood

Wales: K Morgan; M Jones, Shanklin, G Thomas, S Williams; Hook, Peel; Jenkins, Rees, Horsman, Gough, A W Jones, Popham, M Williams, R Jones.
Replacements: Phillips for Peel (68), D Jones for Jenkins (70), A Jones for Horsman (62), J. Thomas for Popham (68).
Not Used: R Thomas, Cockbain, Sweeney.

England: Cueto; Strettle, Tait, Catt, Robinson; Flood, Ellis, Payne, Chuter, White, Corry, Palmer, Worsley, Rees, Haskell.
Replacements: Geraghty for Catt (42), Perry for Ellis (70), Turner for Payne (75), Mears for Chuter (74), Deacon for Palmer (58), Lund for Worsley (9).
Not Used: Noon.