After a long summer of training camps and warm up games, Wales finally kicked off their World Cup campaign in Toyota. Georgia were the opposition and Wales did not waste any time in crossing the whitewash to open the scoring through Justin Tipuric. These are my observations from my living room Sofa.

Breakout performers:

Teams are always searching for players who break out in the group stages, Wales have a host of proven International performers who have taken the lead this week in the aftermath of Rob Howley being sent home leading up to the first game. I feel that the Georgia game saw Wales have three ‘coming of age’ performances:

Josh Adams-

The flying Winger from Hendy, is another player to take an unorthodox route to the elite level. Having been released from the Scarlets, Adams sought out first team Rugby in the English premiership. After two Prolific seasons with Worcester, Adams soon found himself in the Wales Squad. He had a successful Six Nations campaign where he scored important Tries against Scotland and England. But the Georgia game saw Adams emerge out of the shadow of his colleagues in the back three. Adams looked strong, quick and sharp in both attack and defence, Adams looked a genuine threat whenever he has the ball. He is underrated under a high ball and is a stable presence  in defence. Adams looks to be growing into the number 11 jersey which has been worn by some legends of the Welsh game. Adams upward trajectory is encouraging and Wales will need to keep giving him plenty of touches as the tournament progresses. His try was a deserved reward for his performance on Monday.

Tomos Williams:

The Schoolboy Basketball international came off the bench and had a big impact. His tricky footwork led him on a run which saw George North scoring the last Try, during this run Williams looked like he was in centre court dribbling around his opposition. The Rhonnda born Scrum Half displayed athleticism and pace to get onto the end of George North’s kick, Williams will be able to be a catalyst for Wales as he comes on against tiring defences.

Wyn Jones:

I’ll hold my hands up and admit that I did not think Wyn Jones would make the squad, as I thought Rob Evans would be picked ahead of him. The Prop from West Walian farming stock, Jones was tasked with securing the Welsh scrum against the formidable Georgian pack. Jones secured the scrum and some, Wales were dominant in the first half and Jones was the fulcrum of this effort. For ex England and Lions Prop Graham Rowntree who has also coached the Lions to single Jones out for praise after the game, shows how well he played yesterday. Jones could be the surprise package for Wales in Japan.

‘Against the Scarlets last year Wyn Jones came on and won a crucial scrum which secured a penalty for the Scarlets, Scrummaging is the strongest part of his game…. Not that he is not good at everything else’ 

Scott Baldwin gives is opinion on Wyn Jones who he has faced at the coalface in regional Rugby.’

These players shone against Georgia, so did Justin Tipuric, Jonathan Davies and Liam Williams. The lineout all be it under less pressure than usual functioned well and Owens arrows to back ball allowed the back line time to smash open the Georgian defence.

The negatives:

The second row fitness crisis has claimed Cory Hill, who heads home as his hairline fracture of his leg has not healed in time. Alun Wyn Jones and Jake Ball will be pulling a double shift this week, both have the quality to secure dominance over Australia. With reinforcements due in soon hopefully Wales can keep this pair fit. Stephen Jones is now settled in and takes over from Howley putting that situation behind us.

One wish for the next week? Please don’t let Dan Biggar take any more hits to the head from his own team mates, a collision with James Davies in the warm up saw Biggar sustain a cut which required some pre match stitches. This was compounded when Biggar copped a head from the celebrating Liam Williams following Tipuric’s try.

Australia prediction: This will be a very tight game, Australia rode their luck against Fiji on Saturday, Wales have to play to their strengths to win this, the momentum a win over Australia in a World Cup game would gain is immeasurable, Too close to call for me at the moment, outside influences will decide this, the refereeing of the scrum and breakdown will decide the winner. Wales can do it, but we need to be clinical and confident. Time to believe for Welsh fans.