Posted by The final round of centre watch comes along as Warren Gatland used his third different starting midfield pairing in the three warm-up games as South Africa arrived at the Principality Stadium.
After Max Llewellyn and George North put on a good showing in week one, before Nick Tompkins and Joe Roberts struggled in an under-powered pairing in week two, it was a reversion to a prototypical Gatland duo for the final week as Johnny Williams and Mason Grady teamed up.
With both over 6’3″ and over 105kg they are physical in contact yet pacey and dynamic enough to break the defence, and bring an enforcer edge to the defence. They are both raw on the test level though, with Williams having only won five caps before the Springboks encounter due to injuries and being a relatively late starter, and Grady with just three caps at only 21-years-old.
In a game where South Africa brought a 23 very close to their first choice selection and Wales continued to mix-and-match in order to give everyone in the training squad a chance to impress before the final 33-man squad was named, opportunity for Williams and Grady with ball-in-hand was somewhat limited.
When the men in red did get the chance to attack though, there were times when the centre partnership struggled to get on to the same page. Whether that’s due to a lack of time together, having to adjust to being in a midfield duo where both are big, physical ball carriers, or a mix of both, they didn’t quite click on first phase or in phase play.
With the strike play Grady is too disconnected from Williams and doesn’t attract any defender’s attention, leaving his partner to carry into a double tackle, while on phase play Williams doesn’t drift behind the screen run of Grady leaving him stepping into the space his outside centre is occupying and then gifting Cheslin Kolbe an interception.
There were signs of what they could achieve though when they do get connected and how they can isolate defenders in order to either get over the gain line, or win penalties on the floor.
The second clip in particular offers plenty of excitement over how this partnership could develop going forward. In that circumstance they opt for the simple shift to Mason Grady who can win the collision and pin the defender on the wrong side to win a penalty, but there is a shape there where Williams can go to Jac Morgan, Sam Costelow or Rio Dyer depending on the defensive look.
With a distributor like Cai Evans at full-back the opportunity to pull the opposition narrow and then expose space in the wider channel is an encouraging one, while bringing Morgan or Grady short is still there as an option if the defence do hold their width.
Where Williams and Grady were connected well throughout was in defence though, where they dealt with regular South African overlaps comfortably as the forwards were largely dominated physically and the Welsh defensive line threatened to become very narrow.
There’s excellent communication and adaptability between the two centres as South Africa look to exploit a one-man overlap; firstly Williams steps up and Grady holds his depth to force the Springboks to try and go wide early allowing Wales to drift and close the space, and secondly Williams holds his depth allowing Grady to spot the blitz and drive the opposition towards the touchline.
Differing approaches, but good outcomes and another sign of what could be for this centre partnership where, in a first choice 23 and behind a pack that isn’t constantly on the back foot, they could exert a lot of pressure on opposing sides leading to turnovers and counter attacks.
In the end, largely due to the lack of opportunity presented for them, Williams and Grady just sneak a 6/10 rating, placing them below Llewellyn and North but above Tompkins and Roberts. However, in terms of future potential they are clear of both pairings. If they can stay fit and healthy it’s a centre partnership that could even see Wales through the next Rugby World Cup cycle.
After all of this though the outcome in the short-term for Warren Gatland is that the starting centres against Fiji in just under two weeks will likely be a new pairing again, with Llewellyn and Roberts not selected in the final 33, and certainly North more likely to wear 13 than Grady.
A Williams/North centre duo can look similar to the clips above, with Grady then the favourite to sit on the bench due to his positional flexibility, but it’s a concern that such a key area of the pitch will be filled by a partnership that have spent very little in-game time together. There’s a lot of gelling needed in a short amount of time if Wales are to make it into the quarter-finals.
Cardiff Rugby Life 