Expect Manu to be fast tracked for Wales…..
Anyway here’s what I made of it.
Front row. Had its moments but whatever combination we put out falls short of what Ire and Fra can offer. You could maybe argue about Collier / Stuart but otherwise there would be few complaints on the 6 selected.
The Row. Ewels was Ewels - did a few decent things but falls short at this level. Isiekwe was rightly pinged for the try but would have got away with that 80% of the time. He also knocked on once but had a couple of forceful carries and gets incredible height when jumping. Definitely worth persevering with.
Back row. Curry worked hard but still doesn’t quite look where we expect him to be. I thought Itoje showed some pretty good signs at 6 - Lawes coming back may complicate things but otherwise I’d like to see him get a run there. Dombrandt did some good stuff, including over the ball, but we need some direct aggressive carrying from somewhere.
Half backs. Bit harem scarem at times, but nice to see the energy and ambition. But I have little doubt that was a one off and we’ll see Youngs back for the tougher tests to come.
Centres. Reflected the whole team performance by needing a bit more thrust and intent. Totally expecting to see Manu and Slade v Wal. I think most would see that as being as good as it gets (on the massive assumption about Manu’s fitness…..).
Back 3. Steward looked pretty sound and good to see him ball in hand although I thought he missed an obvious pass a couple of times. Wings - a real problem. Malins just doesn’t cut it there for me and while in his brief appearance Nowell looked busy, as he always does, he’s not going to give too many sleepless nights to international opponents these days.
From the bench. Daly didn’t do too much wrong but there wasn’t a lot of wow either. It’s probably too early for Chessum to be involved really, but I enjoyed his cameo.
But, unfortunately, you can’t really read too much into any result against Ita at the moment.