Posted by Ah the wooden spoon, it’s been too long! Is it unexpected that Cymru picked it up on Saturday? No, probably not. Is it still disappointing? Yes, absolutely.
It’s not that we have finished bottom of the Six Nations for the first time in 21 years, for me anyway. The real disappointment is that Saturday’s performance was a step back in the evolution of the squad. It leaves the question lingering of “was there any improvement?” in this Championship, which was largely written off as a spell of development under Warren Gatland.
There were never any qualms about that approach within the context of where Welsh rugby is. Leaving aside the poor decisions of the Welsh Rugby Union and employees within its rugby department over the last decade, we were where we were in terms of the amount of quality and experience that had retired or moved on in the preceding 12 months.
Within that there was a lost of generation of player who should be ready to step up but severely restricted opportunities at particularly international level, and even club level, had left a dearth of 27-31-year-old options ready to come in. Instead the idea was to skip a generation and begin work with the talented youngsters still only breaking into the professional team setups, let alone the test team.
So looking at the development aspect of the Six Nations there were two strands for Cymru; individual and team.
Saturday’s game underlined that there was success on an individual front; Elliot Dee was excellent again as a lineout thrower and athletic presence around the field, Dafydd Jenkins led by example with his engine and game reading allowing for repeated impacts, Alex Mann’s vision and footwork helped mark him out as a future top blindside.
Cam Winnett returned to his ultra-assured self at full-back while Sam Costelow continues to show encouraging flashes that he could step up as Cymru’s long-term 10. All-in-all the talent coming through is a huge cause for positivity, both in their skillset and their temperament after being thrown into the Six Nations in tough circumstances at least 12 months before they really should have been.
It’s the second strand that has a big question mark over it after Saturday though. Over the course of the Championship there were elements of each game to like; the transition work against Scotland, the kicking game against England, the defence against Ireland and the phase play attack against France. On Super Saturday the hope was that Warren Gatland’s men would at least string some of those together.
Unfortunately the truth was that there were no real redeeming features of Cymru’s performance against Italy. The game plan of using ball carriers to get over the gain line in order to provide a platform to attack from was hamstrung by the non-selection of primary ball carriers, the defence lacked physicality and intensity against a creative Italian attack, and the scrum struggled once again.
Being unable to effectively stop the opposition from making metres and scoring, while simultaneously lacking the ability to get over the gain line, go through effective attacking phases or create scoring chances was a perfect storm leading to yet another scoreless half and a fifth straight defeat.
There was a small cause for optimism in the second half once ball carriers in the form of particularly Will Rowlands and Mason Grady did come off the bench to give Cymru some go-forward, but it was too little, too late. In truth the final scoreline flattered the home side.
A disappointing way to end the campaign, not just because of the result, but mostly due to the manner of defeat. With the individuals within the squad improving, but the team as a whole seemingly struggling to, then it would strike me as fair to ask questions of the coaching the playing group received over the last two months.
Post-game Warren Gatland relayed a dressing room conversation with Welsh Rugby Union CEO Abi Tierney, during which he offered to resign and was told in no uncertain terms that it was not required. Why is that? Surely an offer such as that would need to be reviewed by the WRU Board, along with the Six Nations as a whole? It strikes me as knee-jerk and naïve from Tierney.
It leaves Welsh rugby at a weird crossroads where the players for the rebuild are there, but doubt remains over whether the coaching group is up to the job of implementing that rebuild and returning Cymru to a level of competitiveness.
A big summer window awaits…
Cardiff Rugby Life 