Why Alex Cuthbert Has Most to Prove for Wales After 2 Games of Six Nations

Wales find themselves in a difficult position after the first two rounds of the 2015 Six Nations and coach Warren Gatland has some tough decisions to make moving forward in the tournament.

Any shortcomings from the side of course can't be attributed to any one player in particular, but Alex Cuthbert bears perhaps the heaviest burden of any squad member looking to prove themselves in the month ahead.

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Despite holding a very impressive scoring ratio in international colours—Cuthbert has 15 tries in 32 Wales appearances—the winger is under immense pressure to show more if he's to hold down his place in Gatland's starting XV.

Try-less outings against England and Scotland in Weeks 1 and 2 of the tournament, respectively, haven't gone down well with Welsh fans, according to Wales Online:

Scoring isn't the only responsibility for a wide man, of course. However, if one were to examine the Cardiff Blues star in a defensive sense, his recent record perhaps still wouldn't inspire.

The 24-year-old was somewhat unfortunate to be found so isolated in the build-up to Stuart Hogg's opening try at Murrayfield last Sunday, but it was nevertheless an error of his that initially put Wales on the back foot:

And there was a tinge of misfortune to Cuthbert's sin-binning against England, too, where he was pulled up presumably for preventing a try-scoring opportunity after English flanker James Haskell thudded into the Welsh post.

That was a piece of bad luck which could have fallen on any defender who happened to get to the breakdown first, but in all, Cuthbert hasn't been the same figure that once stormed international defences so ferociously in 2012.

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In total, Cuthbert has carried for 42 metres in this year's Six Nations so far, per ESPN Scrum, 31 of which came in the considerably easier fixture against Scotland.

One might argue the Blues speedster could get away on past merits. However, when considering Liam Williams came into the lineup in Edinburgh to race for 94 metres in his first start of the tournament, the scrutiny on Cuthbert becomes that much more glaring.

Laura-Jane Jones of Sky Sports is among those who thought Gatland may already have dropped Cuthbert in favour of Scarlets' in-form Williams, with Leigh Halfpenny taking his spot out wide:

It's no new notion among pundits. Williams has been in incredible form on the club scene and although Cuthbert bagged autumn tries against Australia and Fiji, he's just not at his best right now.

Blues coach Mark Hammett believes otherwise, however, and he was quoted by Alex Bywater of Wales Online as defending his representative following the first-round defeat to England:

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I had a seat behind the posts at the Millennium Stadium on Friday and from the view I had it looked like Cuthy worked really hard. He went looking for the ball. The ball didn't always come his way and he would have been trying to get touches. But sometimes as a winger the ball doesn't get to you and it can look like you're not working hard. That's not the case with Alex. Whenever we have had him here he always works hard.

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Hammett is right in asserting that without supply, a winger's production rate can sometimes come under unfair speculation, but Williams' advancing pressure places even more of a burden on Cuthbert.

At his best, Cuthbert is a physical specimen who can be of tremendous use in consistently getting past the gain line and thrusting his team on; we haven't seen enough of that player over the past fortnight.

Mentally, the player needs to assure himself—and be more assured than any spectators or critics—that he's up to the task, but he's the only one who can influence that change.