Several Wales stars were involved in today’s exciting West Country derby which Gloucester won in a late, dramatic finish. The TMO was required after over six minutes of added time to award Gloucester the try that saw them win the game via an Owen Williams conversion.
Gloucester claimed their first away points of the season as we head towards the Autumn Internationals.
Taulupe Faletau
The number eight was crucial to Bath’s first half success. Ever present at the breakdown creating several turnovers and penalties, he helped give the platform for Bath to gain large periods of territory in the first half.
Faletau also played a huge part in the second of Semesa Rokoduguni’s tries with a huge carry to break the gain line and put Bath within five metres of the try-line.
The ever physical back rower was also solid at the set piece which bodes well for Wales as they look to strengthen a scrum which has been depleted in recent tests.
If Faletau continues his good form he will undoubtedly, again, be one of Wales stars.
Rhys Priestland
The Bath fly half has seen himself recalled to the Wales squad following a change to the Welsh international selection policy.
He came into the Gloucester derby following a solid game and 18 points against the Scarlets in the Champions Cup last weekend.
He didn’t have the same success off the tee today though, missing several kicks that were rather more difficult than those he scored last week; even allowing for a swirling wind around The Recreation Ground earlier on in the game.
He had a much better game with ball in hand, marshalling the backs to an impressive display that saw only a myriad of handling errors deny the home side a handful of tries.
Owen Williams
Williams struggled to get any decent ball time in the first half due to Bath’s onslaught. He wasn’t overly impressive in defence but he did enough.
Williams, who was playing in his first West Country derby today, will be one of Wales’ main stars as they look to get a new 10-12 partnership forged prior to the 2019 World Cup in Japan.
Williams is slowly proving that he is possibly the answer to the 12 jersey. One thing that Wales fans can be assured of is that he can handle pressure; perfectly slotting over the overtime conversion to get Gloucester the one point win.
Wales Stars Fill Out The Team Sheets
There was also a plethora of other Welsh qualified players on show today, of whom, Richard Hibbard put in an immense shift on the defensive front as well as holding strong in the scrum.
Lock Luke Charteris also held strong in the set pieces, and worked hard around the field, however Aled Brew saw limited game time and looked slightly wounded, using up plenty of the medical team’s tape on his leg.
Above names included, there were a total of 11 Wales qualified players in the two squads for this afternoon’s match. You can see the full Wales Autumn International squad here.
Main images credit:
Embed from Getty Imageswindow.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:’NoKysPxjTcJ3ll1lid0TLw’,sig:’_xpdA2z9IceqTnZto4p-M4zV63nHXNNJQf1BlLTABes=’,w:’594px’,h:’364px’,items:’861320662′,caption: true ,tld:’co.uk’,is360: false })});
