15. Stuart Hogg– 6 out of 10
Started brightly and very unlucky with a couple of bounces early on which, had they gone to hand might have changed the shape of the game. Even after the wheels had come off he always looked a potential threat and he worked his socks off in defence.
14. Tommy Seymour – 5
Tidy enough – but the game sort of passed him by.
13. Chris Harris – 5
Early days but he appeared to struggle with the tempo and intensity of international rugby – although did make a great try saving tackle on Rhys Patchel which stalled Wales second try for a few minutes. Lost possession whilst trying to take a flat ball from a scrum close to the Welsh line near end of first half, when Scotland really needed to make something of that excellent field position and generate some momentum going into the break.
12. Huw Jones – 6
Led the resistance heroically after that cataclysmic period around the ten minute mark. Even when surrounded by the second half havoc, he still looked a good player – and he kept fighting to the end, holding Wyn Jones up to avert a certain try.
11. Byron McGuigan– 5
Strong on the ball but caught flat footed a couple of times in defence – though in fairness he covered his tracks energetically and effectively.
10. Finn Russell – 4
Enigmatic as ever – his distribution was at times mesmerising and he kicked clever – but too many basic mistakes – and he did not call the change when he clearly needed some front foot ball.
9. Ali Price – 3
Not one for his scrap book. A couple of wrong options early on and then he drove the first nail into the coffin with the delayed pass which gave Gareth Davies his intercept try.
1. Gordon Reid – 5
He hung in there to ensure that contrary to general expectation it was not (initially at least) the scrum which proved to be the Achilles heel.
2. Stuart McInally – 5
Put himself about and made several good carries – but never really looked comfortable at line-out time – and sold himself short to allow Aaron Shingler to burst through and almost set up a try for Steff Evans.
3. Jon Welsh – 5
Battled manfully – and should be satisfied with his afternoon of hard graft.
4. Ben Toolis – 5
Beavered away but struggled with the dominance of the Welsh pack.
5. Jonny Gray – 6
Had a difficult afternoon fronting up to a very physical Welsh pack with not a lot of tight support.
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6. John Barclay – 5
Gave it everything he had – but was seriously out-gunned by the Welsh back-row — and gave away a couple of psychologically costly penalties at the start of the second half.
7. Hamish Watson – 7
Scotland’s best forward – tremendous work rate – and produced what little front foot ball there was.
8. Cornell du Preez – 5
Pretty anonymous – but he was swimming against the tide.
– Replacements –
16. Scott Lawson– 5
Line-out was poor – but otherwise did as much as could have been expected of him
17. Jamie Bhatti – 5
Found it very hard going.
18.Murray McCallum – 5
Showed up well in the build up to Peter Horne’s try but like James Bhati, he found the scrums tough – as you would expect of a player of his experience.
19. Grant Gilchrist – 5
The game was gone before he had appeared – but showed willing in very difficult circumstances.
20. Ryan Wilson – 5
Read Gilchrist
21. Greig Laidlaw – 5
Read Gilchrist and Wilson
22. Peter Horne – 6
Took his try well.
23. Sean Maitland – 5
Was part of a late breakout along with Hogg which at least told us that Scotland hand’t quite thrown in the towel altogether.