Australia player ratings vs Wales as Joe Schmidt’s resurgent Wallabies continue their impressive Autumn Nations Series.
RUCK’s Autumn Nations Series coverage is proudly powered by the My Name’5 Doddie Foundation, dedicated to creating a world free of MND. Join the the fight against MND here.
Warren Gatland’s side suffered a record 11th consecutive defeat, as the Wallabies rediscovered the same free-flowing rugby that had helped them overcome England just a week earlier.
Scroll down for our Australia player ratings vs Wales.
Australia player ratings against Wales:
After 10 test losses, Wales were desperate for a win and whilst Australia was off to a headstart Wales soon caught up by the end of the first half. But, the second half let Australia run away with the game, with a final score of 52-20 to Australia. The game was a crushing loss for Wales and helped solidify the opinions people were beginning to form about Gatland…
Here’s how the Australian side performed:
15 Tom Wright – 8
Wright was the first try scorer of the game. Whilst he managed to get his team to a head start, he did cause a knock-on which allowed Wales’ Wainwright the advantage to score off the back of a scrum. Despite some mistakes, his presence was mainly advantageous, as his quick reaction caught a ball in the dangerous territory of the Welsh 22-metre line. In the 60th minute, Wright ran all the way from the Welsh 22 to score the try that brought Australia up to a whopping 38 points, he also scored the last try of the game in the 80th minute, ensuring that Faessler wasn’t the only player to get a hat-trick.
https://static.smartframe.io/embed.js14 Andrew Kellaway – 6
Bringing an element of football to the game, Kellaway booted the ball upfield a few times to keep it in touch and to help his team cover ground quicker. However, his ambitions didn’t always pan out…
13 Len Ikitau – 7
Ikitau was called up for a knock-on early into the game but in the final minutes, he scored a beautiful try as he nipped past the dodgers. His efforts were sure to make Wales reflect upon the graceful dodges of the good old days when Shane Williams was still on the team.
12 Samu Kerevi – 4
Kerevi gave a false sense of comfort at the beginning with his slick hands, he was quick to pick up the ball and keep the pace fast to their advantage. However, his play quickly went downhill and resulted in the occasional knock-on. In the second half, he also got pulled up for a dangerous tackle that resulted in a card which later got upgraded to a 20-minute red. His mistake would cost the team an extra 10 minutes in the sin bin before they could replace him with another player. But, the new rule ensured he did not come back on for the rest of the game.
11 Max Jorgensen – 6
He may not have been the one running over the white line, but he assisted Wright and Ikitau on multiple occasions that ended in points being scored for the Wallabies. His name was often on the lips of the commentators as they spoke with increasing excitement about his skill.
10 Noah Lolesio – 8
Lolesio may have missed his first conversion, but he made up for it by securing the second one just a few minutes later, helping Australia gain a stable lead. His confidence in his teammates throughout led to many penalties being kicked to the corner, as he knew they would follow through successfully. Despite his rough start, Lolesio’s success rate was more than impressive with 6/7 kicks.
9 Nic White – 6
He had racked up some metres for his team but eventually, he let the ball slip through his hands. After a shoulder to the head from Bevan, he was taken off for a head injury assessment.
8 Rob Valetini – 6
The only controversy Valentini caused on the field today was a tackle that was discreetly reviewed after suspected head contact caused, but it was soon cleared.
7 Fraser McReight – 6
McReight didn’t cause any disruptions to the play nor did he particularly stand out.
6 Seru Uru – 6
Throughout the game, Uru did a good job at isolating the Wales attack in order to get a penalty for his team that drove them into the 22 and gave them the chance to score. Uru opened up plenty of opportunities that led to points being added onto the board.
5 Will Skelton – 6
After a quiet game from Skelton, he was eventually taken off part the way into the second half.
4 Nick Frost – 7
Just a few minutes after the first try Frost followed up with a cracker that led him running half the length of the pitch.
3 Allan Alaalatoa (c) – 7
Holding up his end of the deal for two-thirds of the game, the captain guided his team to an immense victory that had him feeling comfortable enough to leave the pitch 20 minutes before the end.
2 Matt Faessler – 9
Solid performance for the hooker which led to him scoring a hat-trick and a sole 15 points for his team. Not much more is needed about his excellent performance.
1 Angus Bell – 5
Bell was pulled up for a ‘no-arms’ tackle which gave the Welsh side the opportunity to score 3 points off a penalty. After a few faults, he was swapped out with Slipper after halftime.
Replacements:
16 Brandon Paenga-Amosa – 6
Brandon did well during his short time on the pitch, but he couldn’t live up to the man he replaced after his predecessor scored a hat-trick.
17 James Slipper – 6
Came on for Angus Bell after halftime but didn’t quite manage to score the same hat-trick!
18 Zane Nonggorr – 6.5
Nonggorr was trusted with replacing his captain for the last 20 minutes and kept the game to a high standard.
19 Lukhan Salakaia-Loto – 6
Will Skelton was swapped out and Loto was swapped in, both players stayed under the radar for the majority of the match though.
20 Langi Gleeson – 6
Gleeson replaced Uru but didn’t make a huge impact due to the short time he spent on the pitch.
21 Tate McDermott – 5
Came on as a replacement in the second half, he went mainly unnoticed apart from one pass that didn’t quite reach its target and slipped through the hands of the receiver.
22 Ben Donaldson – 6.5
Came onto the pitch early into the game and made an instant impact, feeding great passes that would’ve laid to tries on numerous occasions if not for the famous Welsh defence. However, when swapped back in to score a conversion he missed his only kick.
23 Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii – 6.5
As Kerevi’s replacement after the 20-minute red card, he didn’t have to do much to uphold the position to a higher standard.
EDITORS PICKS:
- Sir Ian Botham’s Grandson allowed to play on despite being ‘knocked’ out for Wales against Australia
- Ugo Monye calls out Courtney Lawes ‘bullish**’ live on air following England defeat
- England’s collapse down the world rankings lands them in group of death for 2027 Rugby World Cup
- Ben Earl faces criticism for controversial incident moments before halftime against the Springboks
