Wales player ratings vs Georgia | Autumn Nations Series

Wales player ratings: On the back of a heavy loss to New Zealand and a comfortable victory over Argentina, Wales moved on to Georgia with heads held high. Pivac tried a few new options while giving some of the regular starters another chance to prove themselves in a Wales jersey.

In the end it was a day to forget for Wales and Wayne Pivac, as they lost to Georgia for the first time ever. To say this was one of Wales’ flattest Autumn internationals would be an understatement.

15. Louis Rees-Zammit - 4.5

Kicked well, didn’t get carried away with running everything, but struggled in the second half. Dropped a few crucial high balls. Outperformed by Niniashvili.

14. Alex Cuthbert - 3

Got shepherded into touch by Niniashvili early on and received a yellow card. Didn’t manage to make much of a positive impact.

13. George North - 6

Looked quick and balanced on the ball. Made a lot of good carries and offloads, which is what Wales wanted in opening the game up. Unfortunately didn’t see any ball in the second half.

12. Owen Watkin - 4

Made a silly offload at the start, and was pretty anonymous thereafter.

11. Josh Adams - 5

Made a world class finish but unfortunately it was correctly chalked off for a forward pass. Didn’t get many opportunities on his first game back from injury.

10. Rhys Priestland - 6

Countered Abzandadze’s game management well and won Wales a few kicking battles they had no right to win. Called Wales’ attacking shapes well early on and ran the Georgian pack around a lot - good tactics in theory but his desired outcome never came.

9. Tomos Williams - 4

Was partly responsible for Wales’ first-class speed of ball in the first half. Kicked poorly in the last 20.

1. Gareth Thomas - 7

Won a few scrum penalties and prevented Georgia from getting on the front foot. Scrum went MASSIVELY downhill after he went off.

2. Ken Owens - 5

Threw a couple of early lineouts not straight but was otherwise solid. Made a few good carries, but didn’t make as big a splash as he usually does.

3. Dillon Lewis - 6

Made no real errors and was strong at scrum time. Same as Thomas, it went very pear-shaped when he went off.

4. Ben Carter - 4

Gave away the penalty for Georgia’s early 3 points and was otherwise fine. Didn’t really make any errors, but was far from his best.

5. Adam Beard - 5

Typically sharp at the lineout but otherwise made little impact.

6. Jac Morgan - 7

Scored the opening try 20 minutes in and immediately backed it up with another. Made a lot of strong hits and was a rare shining light in a rubbish Welsh performance.

7. Justin Tipuric - 5

Polarising game for Tipuric. Had a couple of good touches and good at the lineout but struggled to take a hold of the game.

8. Josh MacLeod - 6

MacLeod finally made it to his test debut! Made a crucial turnover in his own 22 and made a handful of decent carries. Good first cap.

REPLACEMENTS

16. Bradley Roberts - N/A

No significant impact.

17. Rhodri Jones - 2.5

Got absolutely munched at scrum time.

18. Sam Wainwright - 2

An all-time classic in getting dominated at scrum time.

19. Dafydd Jenkins - N/A

Difficult to spot a significant impact. Not the debut he will have dreamed of.

20. Taulupe Faletau - 6

Made a great break and nearly set up a winning try. Wales’ only real positive from the bench.

22. Sam Costelow - 3

Made no real impact… and that’s a problem. Priestland set up a position for him to tear Georgia apart in the last 20, and he was completely anonymous. Not what you want from a fly-half as young and talented as Costelow.

23. Leigh Halfpenny - N/A

No significant impact.