WALES PLAYER & TEAM TOUR REPORT CARD | Increased or decreased reputations v South Africa & Australia 

Honestly the Welsh player who impressed me most was Archie Griffin, at his age and position the length of time he played, the number of tackles he made especially in the first Aus game were excellent for a tighthead

Fair enough analysis on the Welsh players

Agree Wales will be a very different squad in the Autumn I expect alot of changes with injured players returning and now that Gatland has LOOKED AT MOST IF NOT ALL the young Welsh talent Only those with real potential going forward Also expect to see the likes of G.Anscombe and C.Sheedy playing fly half

Wales really hit rock bottom, not surprising the amount of injuries. and players standing down, Lots of a absent quality players, Jac Morgan Anscombe Rowlands and so on,they beat Queens land reds in the last game and for a team so low on confidence it could have gone pear shaped, it nearly did but I believe Wales have turned a corner and they have found som real gems like Archie griffin hopefully will become Wales tight head for years to come, and Francis may return, Dewi Lake has been a great captain and and beginning to get better with some powerful carries, in the second row Christ Tshiunza looked good there offering a option from 6, Martin Mackenzie looked good at 8, Wainwright was standout forward for Wales and so unlucky to get injured, and we may see the return of Taulupe Faletau so a back row of Morgan Wainwright and Faletau will be very tasty. in the backs Ragan Grace looked at home on the wing as did Eddie James in the centre I would like to see him at 12 with Grady at 13, Wales will get better having hit the lows and the November tests will be a good indicator.

Pretty good analysis

I think it's a double edged sword for Wales and their fixture list. I do agree that they go full fat on their fixture list; toured SA in 2022 and frequently have the ABs, Australia, Fiji and Springboks touring annually to Cardiff. But they were probably at risk of being run very close by a Uruguay or Canada (USA are in shambles atm) that could've even worsened their confidence. At least no one expected them to get a result agains the Boks or Wallabies. With this Aus tour, they've at least unearthed Griffin and Bevan and confirmed that Wainwright is a superb player.

The key find of this tour could well be Archie Griffin. He has the measurables that you want in an international tight head (6ft 3 19 stone) and given the context that he has only around 10 professional games under his belt (one club start before his Welsh cap), he did surprisingly well. IF (a big and hopeful if) he is the long term answer at tight head and stabilises a catastrophic Welsh scrum, suddenly we do have a pretty decent pack. Lake, Jenkins, Rowlands, Tshiunza, Reffell, Wainwright, Plumtree and Morgan are a good group. Morse at the Ospreys look handy and could step up in the next season. If Carre can stop farting around and develop at Sarries you suddenly have a dynamic pack full of power and ballcarriers. The big problem lies in the backs. No one is really putting their hand up regularly at regional level (aside from Keiron Williams). It is hard to see who will be the 10-12-13 moving forward, and without that you could have prime Lomu, Blanco and Campese in the back three and wouldn’t be able to use them.

The next world cup is 6 groups of 4, so Wales should still be in pot 2 unless they drop to 13.

After seeing the way Welsh fans behaved towards Australian fans after the world cup, both as aussie fans left the stadium and as they did interviews afterwards with reporters...I have no sympathy for their 9 straight losses.

Always find rugby opinions interesting, especially when discussing individual players, for example your view was that Winnet had a "Shocker", other press went with different views: "At fault for Australia's second try after he failed to take a high ball but was decent apart from that one error. Asked questions of the Wallabies defence with his footwork, while his slick distribution helped get on the outside. One lovely tip-on pass put Liam Williams over for a try and outstanding under the high ball after the break." - Wales Online "Came up with a costly error for Australia’s second try, but overall had a decent game. Linked up well with Ben Thomas in attack, and came up with some really nice touches with ball-in-hand. Sent Liam Williams in for a good try too with a clean delayed pass." - Planet Rugby Noone saying he was brilliant, just decent, but definitely noone else suggesting the young kid who has played 30ish total professional games, including Wales Caps, had a shocker. Like I say, interesting how different opinions get formed.

Saw Squidge say that Gatland knows who he DOESNT want, but has no clue who he actually wants to play in his strongest XV. The only one I think he does know is perhaps Joe Hawkins (ineligible) and Winnett who's been class at 15. Grady is so poorly utilised and it's clear he's not a 12, this gerrymandering of swapping his position every test reminds me of what Australia did with Jordan Petaia which ultimately stunted his career development. It's clear Gatland doesn't rate or want Carre (bizarre imo) and is probably going to phase out the likes of Tompkins and Josh Adams

Almost Wales didn't get hammered good luck tothem along road ahead

I wish I did not continuously feel that Wales are playing rugby without a real game style that is characteristically Welsh. That coaching box needs a cleanout. If you don' t win, and continue to do so for so long then its time to change. Wales underperforms. The URC tells u this. Gotta do better= but let's have a style that is incorporated so that from 1- 22 its the same , from U20 onwards?

My team when all fit Smith, Dee, Francis Rowlands(Captain), Jenkins Wainwright, Thomas Young, Reffel Tomas Williams, Dan Evans Hawkins, Hennesy Grace, Liam Williams and Josh Adams

Will ypu be doing an ireland safa report cars

I imagine Joe Schmidt will be drilling the Aussies on their Maul defence and they'll be better against Georgia next match... Wales had more time together unlike the Aussies, so in theory Wales should've been better...