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3 hot takes as Warren Gatland names Wales team to play Ireland

By Liam Heagney
Wales' Dan Biggar (Photo by David Davies/PA Images via Getty Images)

Look away now, Wayne Pivac. It was January 17, the day when Warren Gatland named his 37-strong Wales Guinness Six Nations squad, when the Kiwi took a sideswipe at his fellow New Zealander. Too many players over the age of 30 was the issue Gatland took umbrage with, claiming some should have perhaps been moved on earlier with a view to better developing a more youthful squad for the 2023 Rugby World Cup

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Yet, 14 days later, there we were looking at a ‘Dads army’ style teamsheet after Gatland named a Wales side on Tuesday to tackle Ireland that contained seven 30-somethings in the starting XV and another four on the bench – two of whom were last capped in 2017.

That doesn’t exactly suggest a bright new, fresh-faced era under Gatland. Then again, as much as Wales versus England was always annually hyped up to be the big one in their Six Nations calendar, beating Ireland has always been the priority for the Kiwi who has never forgotten his 2001 IRFU sacking.

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With the title favourites first up in Cardiff, it would have been revolutionary if Gatland had ripped up the nucleus of what he inherited from Pivac. Hence the presence of so many old reliables – a 37-year-old in Alun-Wyn Jones, a 36-year-old in new skipper Ken Owens, three 34-year-olds, a 33-year-old in Dan Biggar, two 32-year-olds and three 30-year-olds – in a matchday squad the coach claims to have been written off for the championship.

Not that there is anything wrong with golden oldies. Look at how Leicester snapped up the services of the 37-year-old Mike Brown on Tuesday through to the end of this season in England. It’s just it was a bit rich of Gatland to criticise his predecessor as the Wales coach for not sufficiently overhauling the squad when he hasn’t done much himself in recent weeks to do anything different from the ‘rely on experience’ Pivac approach.

The luxury back row
One thing Wales have never been short of is quality back-rowers and their latest selection highlights exactly that with Tommy Reffell left on the bench behind the starting trio of Jac Morgan, Justin Tipuric and Taulupe Faletau. Reffell has been to the fore in this season’s Premiership with Leicester, his calling card being the 17 turnovers won so far in the English league, and he had been the player in possession of the Test shirt coming into the Autumn Nations Series.

A rib injury did for Reffell, though, in November after he had started versus the All Blacks and Morgan has since taken his opportunity, scoring four tries in his starts versus Georgia and Australia.

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Scoring regularly is no mean feat at Test level and having also dramatically come up with the decisive converted Champions Cup try for the Ospreys at Reffell’s Leicester just the other week, the wind is very much in Morgan’s sails. Reffell, however, should be one heck of a replacement to throw into the second-half fray versus Ireland.

It’s now Monsieur Biggar
It will be interesting to see how Dan Biggar adapts to life with Wales under Gatland. He had been chosen as Pivac’s skipper for the 2022 Six Nations and the subsequent tour of South Africa, but circumstances are now very different for the out-half.

He swapped Northampton for Toulon ahead of an Autumn Nations Series he missed through injury and having played seven times for his new club, clocking up 467 minutes either side of Christmas, he has now been restored to the Wales No10 jersey with much expected of him with Gareth Anscombe again out injured.

Set to go up against his old rival Johnny Sexton on Saturday, we will soon know what wintering in the south of France has done for Biggar’s game. Meanwhile, the identity of his backup has very much piqued the interest as well as it was 2017 when Owen Williams won his last Test cap, a gap he shares with fellow replacement Scott Baldwin.

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Williams has been an inspired recruit by the Ospreys after the Worcester collapse, but can he now elevate that form to the international stage?

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Adrian 41 minutes ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

Thanks Nick The loss of players to OS, injury and retirement is certainly not helping the Crusaders. Ditto the coach. IMO Penny is there to hold the fort and cop the flak until new players and a new coach come through,…and that's understood and accepted by Penny and the Crusaders hierarchy. I think though that what is happening with the Crusaders is an indicator of what is happening with the other NZ SRP teams…..and the other SRP teams for that matter. Not enough money. The money has come via the SR competition and it’s not there anymore. It's in France, Japan and England. Unless or until something is done to make SR more SELLABLE to the NZ/Australia Rugby market AND the world rugby market the $s to keep both the very best players and the next rung down won't be there. They will play away from NZ more and more. I think though that NZ will continue to produce the players and the coaches of sufficient strength for NZ to have the capacity to stay at the top. Whether they do stay at the top as an international team will depend upon whether the money flowing to SRP is somehow restored, or NZ teams play in the Japan comp, or NZ opts to pick from anywhere. As a follower of many sports I’d have to say that the organisation and promotion of Super Rugby has been for the last 20 years closest to the worst I’ve ever seen. This hasn't necessarily been caused by NZ, but it’s happened. Perhaps it can be fixed, perhaps not. The Crusaders are I think a symptom of this, not the cause

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T
Trevor 3 hours ago
Will forgotten Wallabies fit the Joe Schmidt model?

Thanks Brett.. At last a positive article on the potential of Wallaby candidates, great to read. Schmidt’s record as an international rugby coach speaks for itself, I’m somewhat confident he will turn the Wallaby’s fortunes around …. on the field. It will be up to others to steady the ship off the paddock. But is there a flaw in my optimism? We have known all along that Australia has the players to be very competitive with their international rivals. We know that because everyone keeps telling us. So why the poor results? A question that requires a definitive answer before the turn around can occur. Joe Schmidt signed on for 2 years, time to encompass the Lions tour of 2025. By all accounts he puts family first and that’s fair enough, but I would wager that his 2 year contract will be extended if the next 18 months or so shows the statement “Australia has the players” proves to be correct. The new coach does not have a lot of time to meld together an outfit that will be competitive in the Rugby Championship - it will be interesting to see what happens. It will be interesting to see what happens with Giteau law, the new Wallaby coach has already verbalised that he would to prefer to select from those who play their rugby in Australia. His first test in charge is in July just over 3 months away .. not a long time. I for one wish him well .. heaven knows Australia needs some positive vibes.

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B
Bull Shark 7 hours ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

Of the rugby I’ve born witness to in my lifetime - 1990 to date - I recognize great players throughout those years. But I have no doubt the game and the players are on average better today. So I doubt going back further is going to prove me wrong. The technical components of the game, set pieces, scrums, kicks, kicks at goal. And in general tactics employed are far more efficient, accurate and polished. Professional athletes that have invested countless hours on being accurate. There is one nation though that may be fairly competitive in any era - and that for me is the all blacks. And New Zealand players in general. NZ produces startling athletes who have fantastic ball skills. And then the odd phenomenon like Brooke. Lomu. Mcaw. Carter. Better than comparing players and teams across eras - I’ve often had this thought - that it would be very interesting to have a version of the game that is closer to its original form. What would the game look like today if the rules were rolled back. Not rules that promote safety obviously - but rules like: - a try being worth 1 point and conversion 2 points. Hence the term “try”. Earning a try at goals. Would we see more attacking play? - no lifting in the lineouts. - rucks and break down laws in general. They looked like wrestling matches in bygone eras. I wonder what a game applying 1995 rules would look like with modern players. It may be a daft exercise, but it would make for an interesting spectacle celebrating “purer” forms of the game that roll back the rules dramatically by a few versions. Would we come to learn that some of the rules/combinations of the rules we see today have actually made the game less attractive? I’d love to see an exhibition match like that.

29 Go to comments
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