Posted by After assessing how Max Llewellyn and George North fared against England in Cardiff in the first Rugby World Cup warm-up, the second installment of “centre watch” switches attention to Nick Tompkins and Joe Roberts.
Warren Gatland went with another brand new centre pairing for the return game against the English, with Nick Tompkins returning to the 12 jersey and Joe Roberts making his international debut outside him wearing 13. On paper it’s a similar set up to week one, with North the experienced head alongside Llewellyn the new boy on the scene.
However, there are some caveats to point out; England’s selected 23 was much stronger in week two after a mixed team picked in week one pre-the announcement of their final 33-man squad, playing away at Twickenham alters the dynamic of the performance, and the pack selected by Gatland was noticeably less mobile than in Cardiff.
There’s more to be said about Wales’ selection and how it impacted the ability of the players within the centre pairing, but we start with Tompkins and Roberts in a defensive setting, and getting a bit over-excited early on in proceedings.
It wasn’t an ideal start to life at test level for Joe Roberts, it’s fair to say, as the adrenaline and eagerness to impose himself on the game manifested itself as a wild spot blitz that saw him disconnect entirely from Nick Tompkins, get caught in no man’s land and taken out of the game leaving his inside centre horribly exposed.
From there it could have been a disastrous downhill spiral for the centre pairing defensively, but full credit to them both; to Tompkins for taking charge as the experienced figure and Roberts for settling down quickly, they recovered well to put in an overall assured defensive display.
Tompkins and Roberts recovered as they repaired their connectivity and, crucially, started communicating effectively. Particularly in the second clip you can see Tompkins turn to Roberts just ahead of the phase and shout something, with the outside centre then coming up and drifting quickly to shut down the space that England should have exploited with an overlap.
By going back to basics and building from there they eventually found themselves in a position defensively whereby Roberts was confident enough to spot blitz again and turn defending from simply stopping the attack to actively putting pressure on them.
Where Gatland’s selection did have implications for these two centres was by pairing them together.
We know that both are good players in their own right; Tompkins is a very good disrupter in defence, link player at inside centre and carries well in open play from a slightly wider channel, whereas Roberts is a solid defender, excellent left-footed footballer and improving carrier on that outside arc from outside centre.
However, the way Gatland likes to play, and with Wales’ demographic as a nation not producing huge ball carriers in the back row, any Welsh men’s national rugby team realistically needs one big ball carrier through midfield. Tompkins should have featured with either George North or Mason Grady, while Roberts should have played outside Max Llewellyn, Keiran Williams or Johnny Williams.
Especially without any primary ball carriers in the pack, and with Tom Rogers being a smaller winger on the right wing, there was no opportunity for anyone to pack a punch with ball-in-hand and get over the gain line. When the centre pairing did attempt to go to the line on first phase, the defence found it easy to pick them off.
Just looking at each clip; clip 1 sees Tompkins take the ball short with Roberts not close enough or committed enough to hold the attention of any defender. Even with Dan Lydiate and Tommy Reffell in support there is no opportunity to create go-forward ball.
Clip 2 has both centres coming short and attempting to isolate a defender, but their lack of big ball carrying and a similar lack of commitment on the dummy line the defenders can focus on the ball carrier and turn him away, with the attack only surviving due to some good individual play from Tompkins.
Ultimately they simply did not have enough carrying power to properly engage the English defence and as a result when it was 15 v 15 on the field there was very little, if any, attacking threat from Wales. That is a shame because with their greater mobility and skillsets, Tompkins and Roberts could have been dangerous through phase play but they very rarely got the opportunity.
In the end the partnership of Tompkins and North has to be rated fairly low, which is harsh because it is not a reflection of them as individuals. On their own they each had solid 6 or 7/10 showings, hardly putting a foot wrong in anything they did, but as a centre duo they were a 4/10.
It’s a shame really that they weren’t paired up with players that could really get the best out of them, and a knock-on shame for Keiran Williams that he was unable to establish himself in a wild final quarter of the game at Twickenham. When they look back on these warm-ups they may well bemoan Gatland’s selection.
Especially as, when looking ahead to this week, Johnny Williams and Mason Grady take the field against South Africa. It will be a tough game, up against the best opposition Wales have faced so far in the warm-ups, but that pairing is noticeably better suited to the style of play the national team are trying to adopt.
If they have a strong 60 minutes, with Llewellyn getting another go off the bench, they could be three of the centres heading for France along with George North. Sport at this level is a cut-throat business, but Tompkins, Roberts and Keiran Williams would be within their rights to feel that their throats had been cut with their hands tied behind their backs.
Cardiff Rugby Life 