Posted by Have you ever seen a side celebrate winning the wooden spoon quite as joyously as Cymru did at the Principality Stadium two weeks ago? A disingenuous question, of course, as that’s not what the celebrations were about, but to those outside the bubble the reaction was probably a bit odd.
It was a really tough Six Nations for the women in red, bringing players, coaches and supporters back down to earth with a bump after the preceding two years of major progress following the professionalisation of the national team. Competitive showings in the 2022 and 2023 Championships, and qualification for the inaugural WXV1, before this sobering two months.
Ahead of the Championship I had written about how the aim was to bridge the gap between the chasing pack of Scotland, Ireland and Italy, and the pace setters of France and England. However, after four rounds of this year’s edition the questions were not about how far behind the big two Cymru were, but whether we had been left behind by our Celtic cousins.
After just missing out at home to Scotland in round one there were eyebrows raised, but after being completely swept aside in Ireland in round three alarm bells were well and truly ringing. That was a team that did not even qualify for 2022’s Rugby World Cup and were whitewashed in the 2023 Six Nations, who’s Union had systematically ignored them for many years, beating us 36-5.
Defeats against England and France were expected, leaving just the Super Saturday clash against Italy at the Principality Stadium to salvage some pride. It wasn’t pretty by any means, but a win is a win and the celebrations at full-time were less overwhelming happiness, and rather an outpouring of relief.
It was also a showing of togetherness, with the playing group engulfing a clearly emotional Ioan Cunningham during his media duties. A statement that they are very much behind their somewhat under-fire Head Coach. It was a battling performance to grind out the victory for him, and to send a message to the doubters as much as anything else.
Cymru had lost some key players and experience, particularly in the form of Sioned Harries and Elinor Snowsill, prior to the Six Nations, but that in itself does not explain the drop-off in form. Nor does any suggestion that these players suddenly became distinctly average overnight. In fact, there was plenty of encouraging moments throughout the tournament.
Particularly defensively there was a lot to like, with the likes of Georgia Evans, Alisha Butchers and Alex Callender getting through mountains of work. Their tackle numbers and turnover stats read like something from a PlayStation game when the difficulty is set too low. The scrum was also solid enough during the Championship with Gwenllian Pyrs and Sisilia Tuipulotu continuing their prop partnership.
However, the lineout was regularly shambolic, work in transition was haphazard at best, and the attack was painfully blunt. 55 points at an average of 11 per game, just seven tries scored, 14 line breaks made and 12 offloads produced. When you’ve got the likes of Tuipulotu, Evans, Butchers, Keira Bevan and Jasmine Joyce in the squad, that suggests we are strangling ourselves.
Looking in from the outside it is hard to put a finger on the exact problem. Perhaps there needs to be a refresh of Cunningham’s assistants to introduce some new ideas, the blooding of some young players who may well thrive or at the very least provide a proverbial kick up the backside for incumbents, or it could simply be a loss of confidence.
The qualification for WXV1 was a great achievement, but the three defeats that followed were tough to take. With bottom of the Six Nations comes a play-off with Spain to play in WXV2. Winning that and aiming to build back up against similar level opposition might be just the ticket for Cymru ahead of the 2025 Six Nations and Rugby World Cup.
If we can get that mojo back, blood some youngsters and add a few strings to our attacking bow then there’s no reason we can’t get back on an upwards curve over the next 18 months leading up to the showpiece event in the 15-a-side game. Especially with that tournament taking place just over the Severn Bridge.
Hopefully 2024 is simply a speed bump on the road to success. A hefty speed bump, admittedly, that might have done some cosmetic damage, but nothing that can’t be buffed out to get Cymru looking as good as new again by the autumn.
Cardiff Rugby Life 