WALES
15. Leigh Halfpenny 6
Set up Roberts with a perfectly weighted chip in the 18th minute. Looked as solid as ever before being forced off with concussion. However, Wales looked much more dangerous when they play the mercurial Liam Williams at fullback.
14. George North: 8
His first try filled him with confidence, after that he was unstoppable. Showed speed, strength and dogged determination to decimate the Italian defence with a nine-minute hat trick.
13. Jonathan Davies: 7
Looked sharp from the outset. Burst through the blue wall on several occasions, when it was still standing in the first half. Flourished when the game opened up and made a scintillating break from deep inside his own 22, in the build up to Scott William’s try.
12. Jamie Roberts: 6.5
Scored Wales first try when he latched on the Halfpenny’s kick. Spent the rest of the afternoon bludgeoning the Italian defence and fighting his way over the gain line to provide his team with attacking platforms.
11. Liam Williams: 8.5
Reduced a well-organised Italian defence to a heap of defeated individuals with two moments of magic. Inspired his team into attacking with real intent when he scored in the 47th minute, and brought North to life two minutes later.
10. Dan Biggar: 7
Played with an unrelenting sense of urgency, refused to let Wales take their foot off the peddle and kept them attacking with pace and width throughout.
9. Rhys Webb: 8
Scampered across the surface of the Stadio Olimipco, unchecked and untouched, for most of the match. Tormented the Italian fringe defence with some sniping runs and supplied Biggar with swift service. Scored his third of the tournament.
1. Rob Evans: 5.5
Made his first Test start and was taught a serious lesson by Martin Castrogiovanni. Dismantled in the scrum on two occasions but he managed to recover, after a stern talking to from referee Chris Pollock.
2. Scott Baldwin: 4.5
Out-muscled and out-played by his opposite man. Very quiet throughout. Owens was much more dynamic and aggressive when he came on.
3. Aaron Jarvis: 4.5
Found the first half just as tough as Evans, struggling in the scrum against the experienced Rizzo. Ineffective in the loose.
4. Luke Charteris: 6.5
Conceded two mindless penalties early on but topped the tackle chart for a second-successive week.
5. Alun-Wyn Jones: 7.5
Another fine performance from Wales’ best player of the tournament. Imposed himself at the breakdown and commanded the Welsh line out.
6. Dan Lydiate: 6
Arguably Wales’ best player in the first half, taking all of the momentum out of several Italian advances with his trademark chop tackles. But once the game opened up, it was clearly more suited to Tipuric’s talents.
7. Sam Warburton: 7
After being restricted to defensive duties for most of the Ireland match, he galloped around the Stadio Olimpico with explosive pace. Carried for over 80 metres and left Mclean for dead when he scored in the 68th minute.
8. Taulupe Faletau: 7.5
Cleaned up well at the base of the retreating Welsh scrum. Kept Wales moving forward early on when he was regularly called upon to carry into an aggressive Azzurri defence.
Replacements: 8
Ken Owens made 24 metres with just four forceful carries. Justin Tipuric roamed around freely and set up Warburton with a brilliant offload. Scott Williams looked lively, showed searing pace to break away and score in the 72nd minute.
ITALY
15. Luke McClean: 4.5
Was forced to cover for an extremely porous Italian defence and he did not fare much better than his teammates. Caught flat footed by Williams in the 47th minute and sat down by North in the 59th minute.
14. Leonardo Sarto: 6.5
Shaky in defence and his two missed tackles led to two Welsh tries. But went tearing through the Welsh defence and kept his composure to round Biggar and score in the 79th minute.
13. Luca Morisi: 5
Spent the majority of the match frantically defending. Failed to make a single metre with the ball in hand.
12. Andrea Masi: 5.5
Ferociously physical and defiant in defence, but he conceded three penalties and was awarded a yellow card in the 52nd minute. Wales scored 14 points when he was sat in the sin bin.
11. Giovambattista Venditti: 6
The hulking winger looked threatening in the first half and snuck past every single Welshman to score in the 24th minute. Caught out of position for North’s first try and too easily beaten on the outside for the Welshman’s second.
10. Kelly Haimona: 5
Slotted a penalty in the first minute but was forced off four minutes later with an arm injury after attempting to tackle Roberts.
9. Edoardo Gori: 6
Was at the heart of all of the Italian advances in the first 40 and he skipped clean through the Welsh defence on a few occasions. But he had nothing to play with in the second half.
1. Michele Rizzo: 4.5
Proved too powerful for Jarvis in the scrum but he was virtually non-existant in the loose and every time he got involved, he conceded a penalty.
2. Leonardo Ghiraldini: 7.5
The Azzurri captain was easily the best player in a blue shirt. Remain aggressive, tenacious and combative even when the rest of his team were being routed. Lost his nerve at the lineout though.
3. Martin Castrogiovanni: 5.5
Made light work of Evans and hammered Faletau in the first half. But he could not maintain his dominance at the set piece and was powerless to prevent Italy from unravelling.
4. George Biagi 6.5
Powerful and assertive in the first half. Imposing figure in defence and immensely physical at the breakdown.
5. Joshua Furno: 6
One of Italy’s most promising players. The Newcastle lock was gallant with the ball in hand and he led the Italian lineout well before Ghiraldini started misfiring.
6. Francesco Minto: 5.5
Topped the Italian tackle chart with 12 but he also dropped off a few.
7. Mauro Bergamasco: 5
Made a nuisance of himself at the breakdown, disrupted a lot of Welsh ball and made a two turnovers, all before half time. But the 35-year-old fell away in the second half, along with the rest of his team.
8. Samuela Vunisa: 7
Apart from Furno, Vunisa was the only Italian to make any impact with the ball in hand. Thundered clean through the Welsh defence on two occasions and was one of the few Italians who didn’t miss a tackle.
Replacements: 5
Luciano Orquera was once again unimaginative and ineffective in attack and he kicked poorly out of hand. Was accurate off the tee though. The damage was done by the time the rest of the reinforcements arrived.
By Nathan Hyde (@NathanHyde2)
6 replies on “Six Nations 2015: Italy vs Wales Player Ratings”
Hmmm. Serious worries about the front row. It didn’t really cost Wales this 6nations, but without Paul James and Samson Lee, I worry for the Welsh scrummage.
AWJ is having a year to remember. What a player he has been. With Wales’ lack of depth at lock over the past few years, I don’t know where Wales would’ve been without him.
Leigh Halfpenny! Almost forgot that amongst everything else that happened subsequently.
10/10 for his commitment. Terrible technique. Not the first time for him is it? Tackling Strettle and saving the game a few years ago if I recall.
I have just been reading the RFU concussion protocols (not because of this, but for Youth coaching) and it states;
“If a player’s concussion resulted from poor tackle technique, their coach must also ensure
that this is corrected before return to play.”
I wonder if this counts at International level???
That aside, how many concussions is it for halfpenny in the past 3 years.
Can you award negative ratings? Orquera must surely have been close. His chips to the Welsh back line led to at aleast 3 tries. Almost as accomodating as England were to France.
Should Halfpenny being feeling a wee bit worried about his place?
Wales looked like a different team with L Williams attacking from fullback. It was his excellent running that kick-started the second-half try spree
He seems to have great acceleration, an eye for a gap and a knack of picking great lines to run.
As great as Halfpenny is, he is not a brilliant attacking full-back
Also, considering Biggar not only made his kicks (did he miss one? Can’t remember) but also hit some of them from very tough positions, Wales didn’t seem to lose anything in their place kicking
We’re extremely lucky to have 2 excellent kickers on the pitch at the same time. As you say, we don’t lose anything in the place kicking department should the need arise for one to take over from the other.
Totally agree re L Williams, he is a far better FB than he is a wing. Likewise I’ve always felt 1/2p is a far better wing than he is a FB – although he hasn’t shamed himself at FB. I don’t see what we would lose by swapping them? 1/2p still on the pitch for his kicking (he does have a longer range than Biggar). Plus it’ll encourage 1/2p to attack more, as he is actually quite a potent attacker, also out there he can hide a little bit more with his atrocious, albeit heroic, tackling technique.