Down at Llanelli, they used to boo when Swansea ran out of the tunnel, under the assumption that the All Whites’ famously combative lock Dick Moriarty was playing.
And at Pontypool in the 1980s, after Robert Jones had been preferred to the home team’s David Bishop for Wales No. 9 duties, a woman took a swipe at the then Whites scrum-half with an umbrella; on the same day, a less-than-pacific local invited Jones to step outside the clubhouse.
Feelings can run high in Welsh rugby.
It came as no surprise, then, that Warren Gatland’s Wales squad announcement for the Six Nations provoked an, er, lively reaction online. As Monday afternoon died on us, of 219 below-the-line contributors on one website, the number offering a completely positive take on the head coach’s selection struggled to make it into double figures.
Twelve straight Test defeats can do that to a coach. Where there was once faith, now there is doubt, as exemplified by the individual who stated of Welsh prospects for the tournament ahead: “We’ll be lucky to finish bottom.”
Maybe criticism and scrutiny goes with the job.
It is to stray into the realms of the bleedin’ obvious to suggest Gatland needs the 34-man squad to deliver for him. After keeping him in post following an autumn that saw Wales lose their three games by an aggregate of 121-51, with 17 tries conceded, Welsh Rugby Union chief executive Abi Tierney stated: “Like any head coach in any sport, he knows the security of his position is directly related to the performances of the team and that this is a situation that will continue to intensify.”
Such a statement leaves the governing body’s boss with little wriggle room should Wales’ on-pitch woes continue. Another wooden spoon would bring immense pressure on her and the rest of the WRU board to act.
A major plus for the coming campaign is the injection of experience the likes of Taulupe Faletau, Josh Adams and Liam Williams will bring.
As a precaution against such a doom-ridden scenario playing out, the BBC and the team at Scrum V might already be thinking of cutting a goodbye film of Gatland’s triumphs, achieved during his first stint in charge, to Sting’s Fields of Gold. “You’ll remember him, when the wins were there, many years ago, during the reign of Warby.” Or perhaps not.
But the New Zealander will know how challenging the next couple of months could be.
A major plus in his squad for the coming campaign is the injection of experience the likes of Taulupe Faletau, Josh Adams and Liam Williams will bring. All three know what it takes at the highest level of rugby and are shot through with the warrior spirit. Age may be against Faletau and Williams, but the hope will be that they can stretch out their Test careers for a while yet. Their presence should lift a young group.
Wales also have two Test-class looseheads in Gareth Thomas and Nicky Smith and quality in the back row where Aaron Wainwright and Jac Morgan are expected to team up with Faletau in a breakaway trio that has big potential.
There is a Lions scrum-half in the making in Tomos Williams and a back three of Williams, Adams and perhaps Tom Rogers would pack ability in the air as well as punch in attack.
Potentially, Dafydd Jenkins and Will Rowlands could form a more than useful combination in the second-row boilerhouse, too, albeit Wales will miss the lineout work of the much-maligned Adam Beard, who is still recovering from injury.
But there the obvious picks stutter to a halt in Gatland’s likely starting XV.
In some areas, the coach is shy of proven Test quality, with the situation at tighthead prop a serious concern. The recall of WillGriff John is the latest attempt to correct Wales’ chronic weakness in such a key position.
The big man has played barely an hour’s rugby in the Gallagher Premiership this season, appearing off the bench four times. Presumably, being part of an impressive Sale scrum against the Stormers last weekend wouldn’t have hurt his cause, albeit most of the English club’s gains in that area seemed to come from Bevan Rodd giving the great Frans Malherbe one of the most difficult afternoons of his career.
But still, the 6ft 3in, 20st John let no-one down, and with the bar not exactly overly high for Wales in the No. 3 position, his effort seems to have been enough to convince the selectors he’s worth another call.
Elliot Dee is back after injury at hooker, with Dewi Lake and Ryan Elias off limits, while Sam Parry returns to favour and Evan Lloyd is dynamic around the field, but still developing accuracy as a thrower, a challenge not unknown to plenty of other Welsh No. 2s over the years.
Gatland has chosen just one specialist fly-half in Ospreys youngster Dan Edwards, who clinched his place with an eye-catching effort against Newcastle Falcons. In a perfect world, the 21-year-old would have been left to develop on the regional scene for a while. But with Sam Costelow injured and Gareth Anscombe and Ioan Lloyd passed over, the lad from Cwmavon is propelled into the group. If he lacks experience, he is a bold kicker out of hand and not only blessed with speed off the mark but also passing ability and the eye of an instinctive opportunist.
We’ll just leave it out there that it’s far from clear that the call to leave out Evans is the right one.
That said, just maybe, given Edwards’ youth, Gatland will ask Ben Thomas to start the campaign in the No. 10 shirt, with the Cardiff centre having featured there for Wales last summer.
Is it a surprise there’s no room for Jarrod Evans? No, it isn’t. Presumably, his status as a second choice at Harlequins has counted against him (though such a role at Sale hasn’t harmed WillGriff John’s cause). But Evans is shadowing Marcus Smith, one of European rugby’s most highly rated fly-halves, and the skilful former Cardiff man rarely fails to impact proceedings when used.
We’ll just leave it out there that it’s far from clear that the call to leave out Evans is the right one.
There again, perhaps the omission that prompted the most sound and fury was that of Max Llewellyn, a player who has been turning heads in the Gallagher Premiership – by scoring tries, busting tackles, making post-contact metres (470 of them) and defending soundly. A low-key effort against South Africa before Christmas seems to have gone against him, although were that the sole criterion for selection it’s hard to imagine anyone bar Jac Morgan, who made 28 tackles in that game, and perhaps James Botham, would have been sure of inclusion in the latest squad.
Others who find themselves overlooked are Morgan Morris, despite boasting superlative carrying statistics in the URC, and Olly Cracknell, despite making pretty much the whole of English rugby sit up and take notice with his ability to go forward for Leicester in the Gallagher Premiership.
Josh Macleod, Taine Plumtree, Rhys Davies, Ryan Woodman, Taine Basham, Lloyd, Ruben Morgan-Willams, Johnny Williams and Sam Davies also have grounds for disappointment.
Among those who’ll be anxious to prove a point is Christ Tshiunza, who seems to have replaced the absent Beard as the lead Wales whipping boy
The same goes for Cameron Winnett. Conceding more turnovers than any other player in the URC this term would have gone in the debit column for him, but he is young enough and talented enough to reclaim his place at some point.
Among those who’ll be anxious to prove a point is Christ Tshiunza, who seems to have replaced the absent Beard as the lead Wales whipping boy for some who air their views on social media.
Gatland has shown faith in him and the 23-year-old could yet develop into a fine Test player, but he has work to do and needs a good tournament. Much of the previous sentence could be applied to the scrum-half Ellis Bevan, while midfield is a zone of uncertainty, with no-one sure of a starting spot.
Anyway, Gatland will stand or fall on the calls he has made.
The perception is he hasn’t exactly done himself any favours with his comments on some of the anonymous feedback that came from players during the review after Wales’ woeful autumn, saying they haven’t had experience of winning cultures and so wouldn’t know what one looks like.
Maybe it would have been wiser to have simply said: “I’ve been around for a long time and so have my coaches, but it’s good everyone’s had a chance to offer a view and I think it’s great that people are empowered to do so. The results over the past year are there for all to see, and any means of improving things is welcome. Now let’s go forward together and see what we can achieve.”
That’s the way to make people feel valued. But we’ll see how the campaign pans out.
Did someone say it might be advisable to buckle up for the ride? It wouldn’t be the worst idea.
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