Friday’s news just days before the Wales squad meet up was ill-timed and insensitive to the players and coaches
The Wales prop legend has been a regular contributor to WalesOnline and the Wales on Sunday for a number of years
Wales boss Steve Tandy(Image: Huw Evans Picture Agency Ltd)
This column was originally written to focus on Steve Tandy’s first Wales squad announcement and the matches that were supposed to signal the start of a more hopeful future. After the events of Friday, there is now only one place to start.
Tandy’s job has just been made a whole lot more difficult after his own bosses chose to drop a bomb days before the squad meet up for the first time. Why the Welsh Rugby Union decided it was the right time to announce one of the regions is now firmly on death row, I don’t know. The decision to then effectively confirm it is either the Ospreys or Scarlets who won’t exist going forward just made the whole thing even more insensitive.
We now have players being asked to play international rugby within a couple of weeks of being told their jobs may be gone in the not too distant future. Why on earth couldn’t this all wait until December when the games would have been done and the players would have more time to get their heads around it ahead of the Six Nations in February?
This is the latest WRU decision over a number of decades where, quite frankly, they have cocked things up. This smacks of another accountancy exercise rather than a rugby exercise and once again, the tribalism and heritage that makes Welsh rugby unique is dismissed.
The number of top rugby teams in Wales has been gradually reduced for longer than many will remember and huge mistakes have been made over many decades.
The big change obviously came in 2003 with the introduction of the regions by David Moffett. That in itself was a move that alienated supporters and even Moffett himself now admits was a mistake.
When professionalism came, and if four teams (initially five with the Celtic Warriors) was the number that could be afforded, they should have been the four biggest clubs – Cardiff, Swansea, Llanelli and Newport, who were all soaked in history and had the supporter bases to prosper. That wouldn’t have gone down well with my fellow Pontypool supporters but at least it would have made some sense. Club rugby was always the strength of Wales and that was what underpinned the national team.
By moving to regions, supporters didn’t know who they were supporting, with some sticking with the clubs in the Welsh Premiership and others turning away completely. It is always the supporters impacted most by these decisions, event though they are the ones that keep the game going by paying their money at the turnstiles. They are the target of sponsors, advertisers and broadcasters, remember.
Meanwhile, the people who have made a series of decisions over a number of years never stay the course.
Whatever the outcome of the off-field process now, it looks like we are tied to being in the URC. Once again it becomes difficult not to look back on the decision in 1999 to turn down the offer from England for five Welsh clubs to join the English system. The answer was staring us in the face and, once again, we made the wrong decision.
Just imagine Newport, Cardiff, Swansea and Llanelli playing in the current Gallagher Premiership.
As for the Ospreys and Scarlets players now, we already hear the likes of Jac Morgan are looking over the Severn Bridge and who can blame him or any of the others? They will probably be better off out of it anyway. Plenty of players have left Wales before and it didn’t do them any harm.
Jac Morgan could be leaving Welsh rugby(Image: Huw Evans Picture Agency Ltd)The Wales squad
I’m just glad that under Tandy, we now have a coaching team who will understand the Welsh psyche and tap into that going forward on the pitch at least.
Realistically, only victory over Japan will be expected next month but we also need to make the games against the battle-hardened Rugby Championship sides competitive. I believe we have the players of the necessary quality to do that if they are suitably motivated and pointed in the right direction.
We are not going to appreciate Tandy’s gameplan until he has picked his first team and they have played in the first game but the selection of the squad in general is probably as good as can be expected. There is a mix of experience and young up and coming players who have a huge opportunity in front of them.
It will be interesting to see how Tandy manages the team selection to help the players make the most of their opportunities and to do themselves justice.
We appear to have the same weaknesses and strengths that have existed since the 2023 Rugby World Cup. We have bags of cover in the back three, particularly now Louis Rees-Zammit has become available again. But, in the centre and outside half positions there is plenty of choice but no one has established themselves yet. The most experienced is Nick Tompkins, who is in fine form but seems to play better for Saracens than he does for Wales.
Tandy’s choice of centres, particularly at number 12, will give us a better indication of how he wants the team to play. Does he want a playmaker like Ben Thomas or someone who can get us going forward.
I hope Dan Edwards has the opportunity to have an extended run at 10. It will prove to be crucial for us to find the consistent game management that has been sadly missing during our record run of defeats.
The selection of the back row seems to be heavily loaded in favour of number sixes. Perhaps Harri Deaves can consider himself to be hard done by in that respect.
There is no genuine seven cover for Jac Morgan and that is an issue that really concerns me. I believe that Tommy Reffell should have been selected as cover for Morgan, even though he would have been unavailable for the South Africa Test.
The front row causes me concern. Of the 10 front-rowers selected, seven are either unproven or have issues.
Nicky Smith is playing well. Gareth Thomas was playing well enough to have kept Smith out of the team for a while and Dewi Lake stood a good chance of being selected for the last Lions tour if it hadn’t been for injuries last season. He also possesses leadership skills.
Keiron Assiratti is the only experienced tighthead prop in the squad and he hasn’t really set the world alight with his performances.
Rhys Carre’s inclusion is an interesting one. He undoubtedly possesses the ball-carrying ability we sadly lack in Welsh rugby and I suppose it is a temptation to include him because Tandy thinks he can get the best out of him.
Rhys Carre has made a surprise return to the Wales squad(Image: Chris Fairweather/Huw Evans Agency)
Unfortunately, two consecutive Welsh coaches, Wayne Pivac and then Warren Gatland, both released him from the national squad because he was unable to achieve his fitness targets.
That is unforgivable in this professional era when expert strength and conditioning coaches are constantly on hand to provide the necessary advice and support to achieve those targets. His problem is down to a lack of resolve, in my opinion, and that is what is holding him back.
Archie Griffin on the tighthead is at best only third in the pecking order in his position at Bath. He can’t be faulted in loose play. However, as we have seen at times, his scrummaging can let him down badly.
If you cast your minds back to the South Africa Test last season he was taught a scrummaging lesson by his Bath team mate Thomas du Toit when he was hoisted clean out of one scrum.
The scrum is so important and winning that battle gives teams vital momentum, which is why we see packs celebrating a set-piece victory like they have won the Rugby World Cup these days.
Tandy has to decide what risks to take in his team selection, it is his neck on the chopping block after all. I hope the Welsh public will judge him realistically, though. We have become so accustomed to failure over the past couple of years and things are not going to change overnight.
He has a huge task, which has been made harder by the off-field problems and it will be difficult to satisfy everyone’s expectations. I wish him all the best.
Graham Price’s column is in association with Nigel Jones, experts in dental implants