5 Things from Wales vs Uruguay

So Wales opened their World Cup account with the expected bonus point victory over Uruguay, in a nutshell it was job done. However in reality the eight try victory was a little unconvincing, and a raft of worrying injuries have been added to the already damaged squad. Here's five areas of conversation after the 54-9 victory.

Questionable game-plan

From the out set Wales didn't seem to know how they were supposed to defeat the South Americans. The standard procedure is to keep it tight with strong and constant forward carriers around the break down combined with strong centre running down the ten channel, for at least the first 20 minutes. However Priestland at fly-half seemed to want to initially spread the ball wide instantly, expecting the Uruguayans to just be a walk over, and it cost Wales early only. With the minnows leading 6-0 at a point and seriously frustrating the home side. 

Wales came into the game playing two opensides, so it was assumed Wales would also look to play a fast paced game, winning the breakdown battle quickly and exhausting their opponents, leading to gaps and mis-matches after a few phases. Instead the forwards seemed much more content with a driving maul game plan against a physicially weaker side, and while it proved highly effective with half of their tries coming from a driven lineout and another one dropped my Tipuric over the line, it also seemed to decrease the effectiveness of the Welsh attacking output.

The Welsh mauled proved effective against Uruguay, but it meant Wales didn't show what they were capable of

Injuries had a noticeable impact

Liam Williams suffered another set back

With Liam Williams at fullback Wales had their most dangerous player raring to go after a long lay off with injury, however they lost him within half an hour. Replacement Matthew Morgan didn't see the ball till the second half it seemed, and even then didn't exactly have the impact that was expected of him, potentially down to a flaw in the game-plan with Wales failing to tire Uruguay out. 

Williams wasn't the only issue, an initially powerful scrum dwindled a little with the loss of both Paul James and Samson Lee by the start of the second half, both lists as having "tight calves", which could pose major problems if the injuries are anything more than minor knocks. It could be especially worrying if it causes Samson Lee's previous Achilles injury to flare up.

Morgan has been called up to replace Allen

The biggest worry was seeing Cory Allen limp off with a torn hamstring. I've always questioned his effectiveness, but he showed some good lines of running to always be available to dot the ball down, scoring a hat-trick of tries within the first half. While he did throw a couple of suspect passes, he did seem to be finding his feet internationally. Wales have called up teenager Tyler Morgan this morning, to replace the Cardiff Blues player, who is highly rated by the entire Welsh management. He is a powerful runner, with a very powerful fend and will be a star in the future, but whether he is ready now is a risk that Wales have had to take. The loss of Allen caused a mix-match re-shuffle with Cuthbert playing centre, and scrum-half Lloyd Williams shoe horned into the wing berth, which caused a massive loss of effectiveness in the Welsh backline.

Cuthbert still lacks form

Cuthbert once again failed to impress

Alex Cuthbert has been given the backing of Gatland to rediscover the lethal finishing ability that made him feared across Europe. But after three warm up tests and the first game of the World Cup, he still has only scored one - walk in - try, has failed to have any impact on the gain line battle. Against a semi-professional side like Uruguay he should have scored at least once, and been able to steam roller over the South American back line on multiple occasions. Instead he didn't get a sniff of the try line, and the few moments he decided to offer himself off of his wing he failed to burst the first tackle or make ground, often because he failed to take the ball on at pace. There were also a worrying about of handling errors, at times where Wales looked threatening, and the chance went begging. And on top of all of that defensively he still looked poor at best, on multiple occasions his positioning actually gave Uruguay a two or three man overlap, he has to learn his job is to defend the wide channel and focus on his opposite winger, far too often he steps in leaving acres of space to exploit. Against Uruguay it wasn't punished but against the likes of England's May and Watson on the weekend, Wales could suffer badly. 

Meanwhile on the opposite flank was the young Dragon, Hallam Amos. Who not only scored a wonderful try, but also broke the defensive line again and again, with intelligent angles run from deep. He also provides Wales with a left-footed kicking option which they are missing without Jonathan Davies, he has played fullback so provides a strong aerial combatant. He also provides an element of the unexpected with not much experience he is neither weighed down with previous failures, nor fully understood by opponents.

Amos is the form winger, will Gatland pick him?

The lineout is exquisite

The statistics speak for themselves, 25 lineouts for Wales, 25 lineouts won, and another stolen. Wales backed themselves at the lineout all game, eschewing kicks at goal constantly to favour their lineout. And it paid off with the towering Charteris commanding the air, but he acted as a decoy on numerous occasions too. Wales utilised pretty much all their options at the lineout, with Tipuric being used at the tail half a dozen times with pinpoint throwing from Scott Baldwin, also Warburton and James King offering other options. 

The Welsh lineout was at peak efficiency

If the Welsh lineout can operate at this efficiency again on the weekend, they might have a chance, especially against an England lineout which struggled against Fiji. Wales could use the set piece to their advantage, especially that tail ball. Throwing to the back of line-out ties in the opposition back-row, and provides great attacking ball which will allow the likes of North or Roberts to attack the gainline at full speed without concern of meeting forwards. England are likely to combat this by moving the diminutive Ford out of the front line, and maybe positioning Barritt in that channel or maybe even Mike Brown. Which just leads to a different method of exploitation, but the lineout will be the catalyst of Wales' attack come Saturday.

Priestland doing better

Priesltand looked confident

Four years ago Priestland was the best fly-half at the tournament, but after winning a Grand Slam, he seemed to lose a lot of his confidence and form. It wasn't helped by a disapproving crowd constantly booing him from the stands. As such he was eventually over looked by Gatland for the inform Dan Biggar, who has taken a firm grip of the ten jersey and during the 6 Nations was at the top of his game.

Priestland was given the chance to be in control, and he showed some of the ability that made him Gatland's favourite for so long. Excusing the initial attempt to play wide without "earning the right", he eventually exerted excellent decision making on the game. He was directly responsible for most of the tries scored by the backs, a deft chip started it off, before two tries arising from his exquisite gainline passing ability putting Scott Williams - although the centre did to most of the work - through and the miss-four pass to find Tipuric out wide was simply amazing. 

His goal kicking which has so often been sub-par, was at test quality once again, nailing seven from eight conversions. His kicking out of hand was still a little shaky, with a couple of missed touch-finders from penalties, and some of his "kicks to contest" were too long for any Welsh player to stand any chance of taking the ball. But it is a marked improvement for a player who is potentially playing his last games for Wales.