{"id":332995,"date":"2025-12-24T08:42:14","date_gmt":"2025-12-24T08:42:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/332995\/"},"modified":"2025-12-24T08:42:14","modified_gmt":"2025-12-24T08:42:14","slug":"the-forgotten-enforcer-steve-tandy-should-call-on-as-coach-makes-feelings-clear","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/332995\/","title":{"rendered":"The forgotten enforcer Steve Tandy should call on as coach makes feelings clear"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wales need to be stronger up-front if they are to avoid a third successive Wooden Spoon in the Six NationsWales head coach Steve Tandy (Image: Huw Evans Picture Agency)<\/p>\n

There were many weaknesses in the Wales team which took to the field this autumn and won just one out of four Test matches which concluded with a 73-0 hiding at the hands of South Africa.<\/p>\n

The consistent theme has been around how Wales have struggled to compete physically, with not enough players who win collisions and can get over the gainline.<\/p>\n

Even against Japan, the weakest of the four sides they played this autumn and the only victory, Wales came second best upfront.<\/p>\n

If Wales are to be more competitive in the Six Nations<\/a> they need to strengthen the fundamental areas of the game.<\/p>\n

With England first up Wales will get blown away if they get overpowered by the physicality of a juggernaut pack at the Allianz Stadium.<\/p>\n

One player who could help Wales in this regard is Ospreys<\/a> backrower Ross Moriarty.<\/p>\n

The 31-year-old is an experienced campaigner who has won 54 caps for Wales and toured with the British & Irish Lions to New Zealand in 2017.<\/p>\n

Moriarty is an enforcer who rarely takes a backwards step, can carry and is destructive in the contact area.<\/p>\n

It’s nothing pretty but according to Ospreys head coach Mark Jones he is still good enough to play international rugby.<\/p>\n

“If you are asking me around what I think Ross could do I think Ross has got a huge amount to offer the international game still,” said Jones.<\/p>\n

“He’s 31. He looks in good physical shape, he’s training a lot for us and he’s hardly missing a session.<\/p>\n

“We chose to give him a little break last weekend because he was a bit banged up having played a lot of minutes for us over the course of the season but you can see already this week he has benefited from the down time.<\/p>\n

“He was flying around the field a couple of hours ago. Ross has got a lot to offer and fingers crossed he’ll get that opportunity over the next season or two.”<\/p>\n

When Moriarty left the Dragons for Brive in 2023 it looked as if he was turning his back on his international career.<\/p>\n

But having returned to the Ospreys and with a new coaching team in charge of Wales the prospect of playing Test rugby again is not out of the question.<\/p>\n

Moriarty was left out of Tandy’s autumn squad but if Wales are to avoid a third Six Nations Wooden Spoon on the bounce they need a stronger spine up-front.<\/p>\n

“I think there were a few eyebrows raised when we signed him. What’s his motivation to come back, what will he give to the team and can he stay fit etc etc?” said Jones.<\/p>\n

“But we do a lot of work around that both from a rugby on-field perspective in terms of our scouting but also speaking to the player and speaking to the agent.<\/p>\n

“Making sure that the motivational factors in coming back were right as well.<\/p>\n

“Ross hasn’t disappointed.<\/p>\n

“I don’t want to jinx him or anything but he’s done a really good job and played a big part in our games so far.<\/p>\n

“He’s had a big influence for us as well. Should he be selected and get on the field over the weekend I’m sure he’ll represent the shirt really well, as he’s done all season.”<\/p>\n

If Wales are serious about stopping the rot and standing up to the physical demands of Test rugby, recalling a proven enforcer like Moriarty may be a risk they simply cannot afford not to take.<\/p>\n

A big performance for the Ospreys against arch-rivals the Scarlets<\/a> on Boxing Day will do his chances of selection no harm at all.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Wales need to be stronger up-front if they are to avoid a third successive Wooden Spoon in the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":332996,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[26771,89163,5903,101,56,54,55,9015],"class_list":["post-332995","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-ospreys","tag-ross-moriarty","tag-rugby","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-wales-rugby-team"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/332995","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=332995"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/332995\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/332996"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=332995"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=332995"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=332995"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}