How they rated
LEIGH HALFPENNY
Came in at the last minute for tight hamstring victim Liam Williams for his first Test outing since being concussed against Australia last November, and he improved as the game went on. Put the icing on his cake by firing over a long-range penalty near the end to ensure Wales wouldn’t lose.
GEORGE NORTH
Seems to have been around for ever but is only 27 and took his Wales try tally to 38 in 85 caps by being on the end of Dan Biggar’s pinpoint cross-kick. Regularly swapped wings with Josh Adams as he went looking for work.
JONATHAN DAVIES
Inadvertently conspired with England lock Maro Itoje to put his brother James Davies off. He ‘dropped the head’ on James as they doubled up to make a tackle, with Itoje catching him with a knee to it in the same movement. Centre Jonathan had a hand in North’s try, carrying powerfully, but Wales’s midfield defence had some holes in it.
HADLEIGH PARKES
His pass got Anthony Watson a sin-binning, which led to some quick thinking from Biggar and Wales’s first-half try. But the New Zealandborn centre had a pretty quiet match.
JOSH ADAMS
Watson was still on the pitch and trotting towards the sin-bin when winger Adams burst on to Biggar’s penalty cross-kick. He made metres and had a flare-up with Courtney Lawes after offloading.
DAN BIGGAR
Sought to impose himself with the Wales World Cup No. 10 jersey set to be his following the loss of Gareth Anscombe through injury. Started by putting up two bombs and continued to kick fairly regularly, a bit too often for my liking. Created the opening try with a quickly-taken penalty cross-kick for Josh Adams and a second for George North to catch and score. He’s brave and elected to stay on after suffering a shoulder injury, much to the concern of Welsh supporters.
Took the official man of the match award.
GARETH DAVIES
The scrum-half’s box-kicking was far more accurate than at Twickenham, although he was helped by the Welsh forwards providing a better platform. Shrugged off an ankle injury and can be satisfied with his display.
STAR MAN NICKY SMITH
Had been given a bit of an outing by Dan Cole while scrummaging at Twickenham but it was more of an even contest in Cardiff.
Was pretty quiet in the loose and was replaced by Wyn
Jones early in the second half.
TOMAS FRANCIS
The tighthead prop had been tied in knots by Ellis Genge in the first of Wales’s World Cup warm-ups and there were fears the same could happen again after Francis was penalised at the opening scrum. That led to sparks between the packs and some wrestling with a pile of bodies on the floor. Put some tackles in during his 45-minute shift to get an improved mark on his report.
JAKE BALL
Was revved up to make a positive impact at lock following a couple of years hit by injuries. Carried hard when he had the opportunity to give coach
Warren Gatland food for thought as he ponders the composition of his World Cup squad, but limped off with a leg problem in the 65th minute.
ALUN WYN JONES (CAPT)
Captain Colossus showed how much the game meant to him when his emotion came to the surface as North scored. Led from the front as Wales produced a much better performance at forward than they had the previous weekend.
AARON WAINWRIGHT
Resembled a one-man team on occasions during the first half as he won a glut of possession at line-outs and carried the ball in the loose.
The back-rower blotted his copybook by missing a few tackles for the second week in a row but his versatility, work-rate and ability suggests he will make the World Cup.
Didn’t appear for the second half as Gatland gave Aaron Shingler some much-needed game-time.
JAMES DAVIES
The flanker was playing through the pain barrier due to a back complaint but his World Cup dream may be over after he lasted just 23 minutes. ‘Cubby Boi’ had to depart after appearing groggy following an earlier clash of heads with his brother Jonathan Davies while the pair were making a double-tackle. To make matters worse, he also copped an accidental knee in the back of the head from England lock Maro Itoje as he fell to the ground.
ROSS MORIARTY
Apart from his tackling the No. 8’s statistics were disappointing for the second week in a row.
Moriarty is a big match player who thrives the greater the occasion and, apart from the odd flash of aggression, was pretty subdued. With no Taulupe Faletau to push him for the
No. 8 jersey, he may subconsciously be coasting a little ahead of the real action in Japan.