Posted by It might seem that a 16th straight test loss for Cymru and another brave defeat under Matt Sherratt that ultimately took home a few bonus points might not inspire a lot to write about.
After all, it is what I’ve essentially written about when it comes to Cardiff and the national team for pretty much the entirety of the last 18 months.
However, after the final whistle was blown at Murrayfield on Saturday, following a frenetic last quarter of the game from a Welsh point-of-view, I felt there was one major talking point that should result in the death knell for the “Wales only needs two professional clubs” argument.
Cymru had a really tough opening 55 minutes of the game, no question about that. The physical battle was lost up front resulting in breakdown and scrum issues, Scotland crossed the gain line at will and, most importantly, gave Finn Russell the armchair ride he needs to start displaying his full range of passing. The fly-half picked the away defence apart with ease.
The aerial game was also a concern as the Scots ruled the Edinburgh skies. The likes of Blair Murray and Jarrod Evans are both incredibly skilful players, as they showed later in the fixture, but simply put you need some height in the back field when the opposition are sending the likes of Blair Kinghorn and Duhan van der Merwe up the pitch. See also – Freddie Steward and Tommy Freeman against England next week.
Yet in that final 20 minutes, with the introduction of some impact off the bench, Cymru were comfortably the better side. Matt Sherratt’s side won the final quarter 0-21, and with some more sympathetic refereeing may even have pushed for the overall win. In the end it was two bonus points that were settled for, but even they should have been out of reach.
This is Scotland’s “golden generation” and yet they severely lacked strength in depth on the day as the men-in-red, currently at the depths of the lowest ebb in 25 years, finished the game in the ascendancy. Was there an element of the home side taking their foot off the gas? Perhaps so, but the replacements will still be coming on wanting to force their way into the starting XV.
Ultimately that missing strength in depth can be traced back to only having two professional teams in the country. On any given weekend there are only a guaranteed minimum of 46 Scottish players taking to the field, and that’s if Glasgow and Edinburgh don’t select any overseas players. There are no certainties that any of Gregor Townsend’s squad will be signed and selected to play abroad.
Meanwhile, in Wales, we could guarantee 92 Welsh players getting game time across a weekend with the four clubs. There is certainly debate about whether we have 92 players with enough quality for the level, but the extra spots certainly provide a much greater pool of players for the national team to pick from.
When the going is good it means our ceiling is much higher than Scotland’s. Compare the respective golden generations. Cymru won Grand Slams, Six Nations Championships, topped the World Rugby rankings and made it to Rugby World Cup semi-finals. Gregor Townsend’s men have not finished higher than third in the Six Nations and did not make the knockout stage of the 2023 RWC.
And even when the going is tough it means we secure at least one losing bonus point from our fixture over the last two editions of the tournament.
Jockey will try to rediscover some of that verve and panache we saw against Ireland for the visit of England on Super Saturday, get the men in red playing from the very first whistle in front of a hopefully raucous Cardiff crowd in order to try and finish on a high with the breaking of the losing streak.
But even if they don’t, and much soul searching continues to be required, then just remember that the answer is not to go to two professional clubs. We don’t want to be Scotland.
Cardiff Rugby Life 