Posted by The build up to Cymru’s summer campaign has been largely dominated with debate and comment over squad selection, players being overlooked, the treatment of some squad members, and the worryingly long injury list that seems to be piling up.
Warren Gatland has long been a difficult man to read when it comes to squads and matchday 23s. Trying to accurately predict a team has been a nigh-on impossible task for journalists and supporters alike, with the coach focusing on specific attributes for certain positions that are outside what some see as the norm.
His evasive and, at times, downright confusing answers to questions around certain selections don’t give away many clues to his thinking, but with Welsh Rugby in the midst of severe financial belt tightening and a never ending fight to retain talent across the four pro clubs, the national team’s Head Coach has to consider the wider ramifications of who he is picking and, crucially, not picking.
It’s a tricky balancing act picking a national team squad. For me just picking a 30-whatever man squad on a Canva graphic it’s a straightforward task, just pick the most in-form Welsh players, but there’s a lot more to it than that for Gatland & co. As a general rule, just chucking the most in-form players together would be a much worse selection than picking the best team to win.
However, national team selection should also be a reward for good form at club level, and in these tough financial times it is important to retain that incentive when offers from the likes of the French third tier can be comparable with what clubs are offering here.
Take the case of Morgan Morris, for example. The number eight has won multiple Player of the Season, Supporters’ Player of the Season, Players’ Player of the Season and even Rugby Writers’ Player of the Season awards over the last two-to-three years as the consistently high level of his form has made him indispensable at the Ospreys.
However, despite all that national team call-ups have been non-existent. He seemingly does not fit the Gatland mould in that he’s not a set piece option and is not hyper-mobile in the way that other back rowers in Wales are, but simply put he is the most in-form player in the country across that timeframe.
If Morris now, more than fairly, believes that international selection will not be forthcoming then what is preventing him from exploring any offers that may be received from England or France next season, potentially for more money than the Welsh pro clubs can offer with a £4.5m budget. Directly due to his non-selection for Cymru, Ospreys could lose one of their best players.
We’ve seen this already at Cardiff with the likes of Rhys Carre and, to a degree, Jarrod Evans, and there are other potential risks across the Welsh game; James Ratti, Keiran Williams, Liam Belcher, Ioan Lloyd, Will Reed, Bradley Roberts. Admittedly at different stages of their careers, and longevity of form, but certainly some food for thought.
There’s also a question about who is being selected in their place. Leaving aside my personal viewpoints on the morality of selecting Cory Hill, picking up a second row from the fourth division of Japanese rugby who hasn’t played since January over players who have slogged it out with the Welsh pro clubs all season is a totally bizarre message to be sending out.
That not only seeps down to current senior professionals, but also the next generation. If you’re a 16/17/18-year-old who has made the switch across the Severn Bridge, or involved in a Regional Age Grade or Academy set up but have had a tap on the shoulder from Hartpury, Millfield or Clifton College, then you may think what’s the reason for coming back to, or staying in, Wales?
National team camps can be as big as the Head Coach and Union decide, yet at the moment Gatland seems intent on keeping it on the smaller side, with 34 players in the Six Nations squad and travelling to Australia this summer. All is required is to bump that number up by a handful to offer an opportunity for those who’s form for Welsh clubs deserves a nod to join the wider group.
It’s not a massive hardship, but in these trying financial times when the pro game needs to be holding on to as much talent as it can, dangling that test cap incentive is potentially make or break when it comes to the best players at Dragons, Cardiff, Ospreys and Scarlets staying put or heading off to pastures new.
Selecting a national team is always a tricky balancing act, but one that at the moment is going very wrong.
Cardiff Rugby Life 