After two rounds of the Six Nations, the competition takes a break, allowing us to take stock and provide a report card for each team. First up, it’s basement-dwellers Wales.
It was far from a perfect start to Warren Gatland’s second tenure in charge of Wales as his side fell to defeats at the hands of Ireland and Scotland.
Following a disappointing year under Wayne Pivac in 2022, the Welsh public welcomed the return of Gatland with open arms.
Despite his knowledge and experience with Wales, it was always going to be a challenge to turn things around immediately, and most fans and pundits knew that knocking over Ireland in the first game was likely out of their reach.
However, the defeat to Scotland, by a larger margin than that to Ireland, came as a shock as Wales’ attack looked blunt while their defence could not sustain the pressure exerted on them by Finn Russell and co.
The 34-10 loss to Ireland and the 35-7 defeat to Scotland sees Wales rooted at the bottom of the Six Nations table with zero points and a -52 points difference heading into the first fallow week.
Best player
We will start with some positives before delving deep into the poor performances of Gatland’s side.
In all honesty, few players have stood out in both games for Wales, with Jac Morgan and Tommy Reffell impressing against Ireland but were less effective against Scotland. Christ Tshiunza was a real standout against Scotland but did not feature against Ireland, and the same applies to Rhys Carre.
In the end, the most consistent and impressive player from Wales donned the number 11 jersey in both games, Rio Dyer.
The 23-year-old Dragons flyer has taken no time at all to settle in Test rugby, impressing on his debut against New Zealand last year and has been remarkably solid in his maiden Six Nations campaign.
Dyer was one of Wales’ most threatening attacking weapons against Ireland, narrowly beaten by Liam Williams. He was superb on both sides of the ball against Scotland despite the horrid service.
The speedster has averaged just shy of 100 metres, two defenders beaten and more than a clean break per game, which is good going for a winger whose side was comprehensively beaten in both Tests.
Unsung star
A few players could take this tag, as most of the Wales players have been criticised for their performances, with the team struggling overall.
The Welsh lineout has been under par, and captain Ken Owens has shouldered a lot of the blame for it, but his overall game has been right up there with the other hookers in the Championship. Fellow veteran Liam Williams was yellow-carded against Scotland but has been strong throughout the two matches.
George North has been reasonably solid in the number 13 jersey, particularly on defence, but it is centre partner Joe Hawkins that claims the unsung star award. The 20-year-old is just starting his Test career and looks remarkably comfortable in the matchday XV. The issues concerning the Welsh attack are not his fault, with the youngster still creating front foot ball and making good decisions with the ball in hand.
Best moment
Usually, the standout moment would be an excellent try or a memorable exchange between two players but, quite frankly, the good bits have been few and far between for Gatland’s side.
Wales have scored two tries this Six Nations; the first was from some slick hands from Hawkins and Dan Biggar in Ireland’s 22 to send Liam Williams through, and the second was Owens bashing over the line from close range versus Scotland.
Two moments standout on defence, with Alex Cuthbert claiming the first and finishing runner-up in this category after he made a superb cover tackle in the final play of the 34-10 loss to Ireland.
But the best from Wales so far has to be the double effort from Dyer and Josh Adams to get Kyle Steyn into touch—outstanding work from the pair.
💪 Some great defence from Rio and Josh!#WelshRugby | #GuinnessSixNations pic.twitter.com/idwKH1dJSE
— Welsh Rugby Union 🏴 (@WelshRugbyUnion) February 11, 2023
Biggest weapon
It’s a challenge to pinpoint a real weapon in the Wales game, with the defence leaking tries and struggling to score points of their own.
The scrum has see-sawed between the two matches, and the lineout has underperformed. The attack has looked incredibly flat while the kicking game is getting there, but far from accurate enough.
There is one statistic that does give a glimmer of hope, which is time spent in the opposition 22. Gatland’s charges have spent 23.23 minutes in the opposition’s 22 during the two matches, which equates to about 15 per cent.
This means that Wales are finding avenues and creating scoring opportunities, but they need to be better to capitalise on them.
Biggest shortcoming
Several have been mentioned above, and some will undoubtedly improve after the fallow week as they fine-tune their structures and address the issues at the set-piece.
However, their biggest issue is the ability to be ruthless on attack, with their biggest weapon and shortcoming colliding, creating a perfect mess.
Sharpening their attacking structures and not wasting the opportunities they have created could see an immediate upswing in results for Wales.
In their match against Ireland, they averaged 0.9 points per visit in the Irish 22, which shrunk to 0.5 in Round Two. In contrast, Ireland averaged 3.4 points per visit to Wales’ 22 and Scotland four points.
Development
Gatland put a lot of trust into the players he worked with in his first tenure in charge in the Test against Ireland, but changes in the second Test allowed several young players to shine in the pack.
Dafydd Jenkins shows signs of what he is capable of, but it is probably too soon for him to be a regular starter in the pack, while Tshuinza was outstanding in running the lineout and abrasive around the park.
Gatland will have learnt plenty from the tournament’s opening two rounds and we can expect him to make more changes and challenge his squad. Wales’ aforementioned issues will be addressed throughout the week and we can expect sharper performances from the men in red.
Verdict
Wales head into Round Three of the Six Nations rooted to the bottom of the table, but things can only get better from here. The fallow week came at a perfect time as Gatland can review and refocus his squad.
Ireland and Scotland came tearing out the blocks in the tournament’s opening two rounds and are now the form teams, the latter somewhat surprisingly for most. With two challenging fixtures out of the way, Wales host England and travel to Italy in their next matches.
The off-field distractions could galvanise the Wales squad and spur them to a strong showing against England, and the hurt from the defeat to the Azzurri last year won’t be forgotten by any of the squad members.
In our preview for Wales’ Six Nations, we predicted that Gatland’s return would improve the side and wrap up third place finish. However, that prediction looks too far out of their reach now, with Wales likely to win one or two games and claim a fifth-placed finish.
It’s taking a bit longer than initially expected for Gatland to change Wales’ fortunes, and the issues with the WRU is certainly not helping, but after arguably two of their three toughest fixtures, Wales’ report card score is an E, just barely a pass.
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