LONG READ Recalled stars and in-form exiles give Wales autumn upgrade

Turn back the clock to a call-up few saw coming when a US congressional committee summoned Jane Fonda, Sissy Spacek and Jessica Lange to comment on “the plight of farm families”.

Possibly none of them knew a combine harvester from a Harvester restaurant. But all of them had played farm wives in films. So before the hearing they went.

Rhodri Williams’s call to the Wales ranks for the autumn Tests is nowhere near as questionable, but not everyone predicted it. Indeed, did anyone flag it up? If so, he or she did so very quietly.

The selection came more than a decade after the Dragons scrum-half last played for his country. Most assumed his time as a Test player had been and gone. But it hadn’t. So, 3,873 days after he last pulled on the red jersey, Williams was celebrating a recall to the national set-up.

Much more of this and the most controversially under-capped No. 9 of them all, Welsh rugby’s 1980s enfant terrible David Bishop, will be quietly hoping for good news on the selection front.

Well, OK. Perhaps not.

Still, Williams now has a chance to cement a squad place moving forward.

The wonder is he’s been overlooked for so long.

He may not be the biggest but he makes breaks and operates quickly, has a smooth pass, a strong kicking game and makes good decisions, a priceless quality in a No. 9. Oh, and he has been playing well.

Tomos Williams has been operating on a different level for Gloucester, asking more searching questions of opponents than Jeremy Paxman once fired in the direction of equivocating politicians on Newsnight.

That said, the expectation is that Tomos Williams will start the November Tests as Warren Gatland’s number one scrum-half – of course it is. For those who haven’t been paying attention, Valleys boy Williams has been operating on a different level for Gloucester, asking more searching questions of opponents than Jeremy Paxman once fired in the direction of equivocating politicians on Newsnight.

With Gareth Davies retiring from Test rugby, Gatland would have wanted some positive news on the scrum-half front. He has found it in the shape of Williams’s recent efforts.

The scrum-half pool is completed by the choice of Ellis Bevan, though the Ospreys’ in-form Reuben Morgan-Williams and Aled Davies, Bevan’s Cardiff squad-mate who has started four of the club’s five games so far this season, might both have harboured hopes of winning Gatland’s favour.

Eleven of the 35-strong squad play their rugby outside Wales, five of them for Gloucester, with Gatland tying a cherry and white ribbon around his selection, naming Gareth Anscombe, Max Llewellyn, Josh Hathaway and the uncapped Freddie Thomas alongside Williams. Does it matter that the Kingsholm club have won only one out of five games in the Gallagher Premiership this term? Some will answer that question in the affirmative, others will point out that George Skivington’s team have been playing some of the most exciting rugby in the English top-flight with 21 tries, a total bettered only by Bath and Bristol.

Llewellyn bagged three of those five-pointers against Leicester Tigers over the weekend, with the scores all different and well taken by a player who is playing with confidence.

Archie Griffin, Nick Tompkins, Christ Tshiunza, Will Rowlands, Tommy Reffell and Nicky Smith make up the rest of the group who ply their trade outside the regions.

There are Professors of Logic who might struggle to explain what’s been going on. But, Smith’s admirers would say, at least good sense has finally prevailed.

Like Tomos Williams, Smith has acquired a host of new admirers since moving to England in the summer, with the former Osprey among the contenders for the player-of-the-match gong in Leicester’s 29-26 win over Gloucester. Not only did he scrummage strongly, he also won a turnover and came up with a number of punchy carries.

Of course, he was bang in form for the Ospreys last term, yet didn’t get a look-in with the national team. His omission didn’t make sense, then, with Smith no worse than the very best in his position in Wales. There are Professors of Logic who might struggle to explain what’s been going on. But, his admirers would say, at least good sense has finally prevailed.

His and Reffell’s Leicester buddy Olly Cracknell can count himself a shade hard done by not to have made it into the picture, too, with 25 carries in the Tigers’ victory at Welford Road. Given that Wales finished bottom of the tables for metres made and gainline success in last year’s Six Nations, it might not have hurt to have added Cracknell to the mix.

There again, back-row remains an ultra-competitive area, with the likes of Taine Basham, Josh Macleod and Shane Lewis-Hughes, all of whom have been delivering of late, on the wrong side of the cut.

Others who have been left with noses pushed up against the window include Dan Edwards, Leon Brown, Morgan Morris and Scarlets pair Ioan Lloyd and Johnny Williams. Lloyd, in particular, could be forgiven for feeling less than impressed after playing a key role in his region’s recent upturn in form.

Among Welsh players, only Rio Dyer has beaten more defenders in the URC this season, while Harri Millard is the only regional player to have made more clean breaks. Lloyd has also been kicking his goals, generally triggering the Scarlets and starting ahead of Sam Costelow, who is in Gatland’s squad. You don’t have to be a fully paid-up member of the Ioan Lloyd for Wales Fan Club to arrive at the conclusion that the gifted 23-year-old is unfortunate to have missed out.

There are concerns about Wales’ ability to cope on the tighthead side of the scrum should the pressure come on, as it surely will against South Africa, in match three of the November campaign. Gatland will also hope Aaron Wainwright hits the ground running at No. 8 after three months out with a significant hamstring injury. Wales could do with the seasoned Anscombe staying fit and they seem light on experienced cover at full-back. Also, do they have enough powerful forward ball-carriers? Indeed, do such Wales-qualified specimens exist in plentiful numbers nowadays?

That said, with the likes of Eddie James, Llewellyn, Blair Murray, Anscombe, Tomos Williams, Smith, Rowlands and Jac Morgan in the mix, plus the man Gatland dubs ‘the best back in Wales’, aka Ben Thomas, increasingly looking the part, it isn’t hard to see why some people view the squad as an upgrade on some of the lineups chosen in recent times.

Wales are likely to target Fiji first up and quietly feel positive about their chances against Australia. South Africa will be a major test because they are always a major test.

Will any optimism that’s out there stay intact when on-pitch reality is encountered?

Hard to say, but Gatland is of the mind there is potential in the group. Doubtless, he’ll hope for patience, too – what coach doesn’t? The first job will be to end a losing Test run that now spans nine matches. Wales are likely to target Fiji first up and quietly feel positive about their chances against Australia. South Africa will be a major test because they are always a major test.

But let’s see how the month of falling leaves and smouldering fires plays out.

To say it’s an important one for Wales and their coach is in no way to overstate what lies ahead.