They say its the hope that kills you… once again Scotland fans were left looking into their hands as the team turned in an awful, shambolic performance against the run of our expectations. Yes, Wales played some of their best rugby in the last five years but did they have to hand it to them on a plate?
15. Stuart Hogg: Clearly our best player… but was counter attacking from poor ball most of the time and rarely got a chance to come into the line. Occasionally looked distraught at some of his teammate’s idiotic decisions – 5/10
14. Tommy Seymour: A couple of decent moments and actually saw plenty of ball – mostly from Welsh kicks – but when he did attack he got no change from a solid Welsh defence – 5/10
13. Chris Harris: Sadly played much the same way as he did during his 20 minute debut last year. Anonymous after he knocked on late in the first half. – 0/10
12. Huw Jones: Lively given the dross that was happening either side of him but as was the general pattern, few genuine opportunities in attack. Defensively made a few big tackles – 5/10
11. Byron McGuigan: Pretty dreadful – 0/10
10. Finn Russell: I’m a big fan of Finn but absolutely mince today; at Twickenham at least he had a makeshift back division to blame. His worst game in a Scotland shirt – 0/10
9. Ali Price: Made very few good decisions. By comparison Laidlaw looked lively…this says everything – 0/10
1. Gordon Reid: The scrum went well. Looked completely out of depth elsewhere but achieved his only goal – 6/10
2. Stuart McInally: Nothing in loose in the second half and the lineout was a joke. Bonus points for scrummaging – 2/10
3. Jon Welsh: See Reid above – 6/10
4. Ben Toolis: Did he play? He looked like a star in the autumn but misfired badly under the watchful eyes of Alun Wyn Jones. The lineout was leaky all game – 0/10
5. Jonny Gray: One good break in first half earned some credit but undid it by failing to repeat for the remaining 75 minutes. – 0/10
6. John Barclay: After an effervescent first 6 minutes he looked shellshocked and out of puff. Two second half penalties for the same breakdown offence put the game to bed in Wales’s favour. One of his worst performances in a Scottish shirt – 0/10
7. Hamish Watson: Carried manfully and was the pick of the pack with ball in hand – 6/10
8. Cornell du Preez: Literally achieved nothing with his afternoon’s work – 0/10
Replacements:
16. Scott Lawson: Followed Stuart McInally in being cack at lineouts. We may be able to retire the Match Assassin nickname though as it was a corpse long before he came on – 2/10
17. Jamie Bhatti: Game lost by time of arrival but scrum went backwards – 0/10
18. Murray McCallum: Backwards scrums but way to early to judge him elsewhere. He had a couple of strong barges in the build up to Horne’s try – 2/10
19. Grant Gilchrist: On for Toolis – no worse, but nothing better either – 0/10
20. Ryan Wilson: More aggression that the whole Scottish starting pack in his 30 mins. Will likely start next weekend – 6/10
21. Greig Laidlaw: Looked so much better than Price – which he isn’t. May be in with a shout of starting next week too – 5/10
22. Pete Horne: Should have been on from 30 minutes in when it was clear any one of Harris or Russell was having a nightmare – 6/10
23. Sean Maitland: Had the easy task of playing better than McGuigan. Mission accomplished and will likely start against France – 5/10