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Sport

20th Sep 2015

Wales v Uruguay player ratings

Kevin Beirne

Wales beat Uruguay 54-9 in their opening World Cup game.

After a shaky opening few minutes which saw Uruguay take a 6-0 lead, Wales were able to secure the bonus point before half-time.

Here’s how everyone got on.

15. Liam Williams – 5

Not on for long enough to really make an impact. His injury will be the major story of the day.

14. Alex Cuthbert – 5

Has struggled for form as of late and it continued here.

13. Cory Allen – 9

Possibly played himself into the starting team for the England game with a hat-trick before limping off. Took all three tries with aplomb.

12. Scott Williams – 8

A strong showing from someone Wales desperately need to step up.

11. Hallam Amos – 8

Jumped ahead of Cuthbert with this performance, although a team of more talent would have taken better advantage of his mistakes.

10. Rhys Priestland – 5

A poor outing with many misplaced kicks and passes. Dan Biggar looks set to start at 10.

9. Gareth Davies – 9

Welsh fans will be delighted with his performance after Rhys Webb went down in the final warm up game.

8. James King – 6

A quiet performance means he’s unlikely to see the pitch again without a string of injuries ahead of him.

7. Justin Tipuric – 9

He was unlucky to drop the ball at the line but still got his try later in the game. Absolutely bossed the breakdown.

6. Sam Warburton – 8

A solid performance from the captain and most importantly he avoided injury.

5. Luke Charteris – 5

Has a lot more to offer than this performance would indicate. Was lucky not to get a yellow after clearing opponents by the neck multiple times.

4. Jake Ball – 6

Gatland will be frustrated that his team could not physically dominate a smaller Uruguayan side.

3. Samson Lee – 7

Took his try well and scrummaged well in his half of play.

2. Scott Baldwin – 6

Unspectacular performance against a vastly inferior team.

1. Paul James – 6

Stood well in the scrum but needs to offer more from open play. Another name on a growing Welsh injury list.

Replacements

The Uruguayan players were clearly tired by the end of the match and they could not handle the Welsh replacements. The back up front row asserted themselves well and Matthew Morgan put in a decent shift after replacing Liam Williams. It was worrying to see Dan Lydiate leave the field with an injury.