Posted by The Autumn Nations Series – as it is now known – marks the start of yet another new era for Cymru with Steve Tandy set to take charge of the national team for the first time since his summer appointment.
Challenges against Argentina, Japan, New Zealand and, outside of the test window, South Africa await the former Scotland Defence Coach who has drafted in Matt Sherratt (attack) and Danny Wilson (forwards) to assist him on a permanent basis while Dan Lydiate (defence), Duncan Jones (scrum) and Rhys Patchell (skills) join the camp on secondment from their club jobs.
Tandy has selected a 39-man squad for the four games, although reinforcements may well be required for the game against the Springboks as English and French-based players return to their clubs, comprising of six debutants, an average age of just over 26 and 664 total caps working out at an average of 17 caps per player after Taulupe Faletau was replaced by Olly Cracknell.
It underlines an exciting new squad that has largely been picked on form and includes many young talents who are starting to catch the eye in senior professional rugby, but crucially is missing much test level experience with only five players having passed the 50-cap milestone; Nicky Smith, Adam Beard, Aaron Wainwright, Tomos Williams and Josh Adams.
As ever ahead of the test window much of the traditional and social media coverage focuses on how many games Cymru will win, with responses largely split between just the one win against Japan and the more optimistic two wins if the scalp of Los Pumas can be taken. There remains the ultra pessimists who think it could be a winless November though.
For my money the results are not the primary focus of this window. I’ll stop short of saying that they don’t matter at all because, as we have seen since the end of the 2023 Rugby World Cup, if a team forgets how to win it can have totally suffocating consequences. Securing one victory is important in order to keep monkeys off backs.
However, the men in red are now beginning a two-year period of building towards the 2027 Rugby World Cup with Tandy, Jockey and Danny coming in. This team has been at the bottom-est of rock bottoms, giving this coaching ticket almost free reign to build them back up in their image, and it’s that image that they need to find.
This Autumn is all about discovering the identity of the national team under Tandy, with the ex-Ospreys man enjoying the full spectrum of playing styles to choose from.
He may feel that the playing pool available to him at this moment in time is so shallow that a supremely basic game plan is the right way to go; kick heavy, hard chasing, hit the breakdown in numbers to win turnovers, and then unleash Jockey in the red zone to get us over the try line with some innovative backs moves getting the ball in the hands of the danger men.
Alternatively he may look to highlight the skill level within the players, even if the physicality is lacking, and play a high-paced, high-skill expansive game that highlights fitness and accuracy in an attempt to get away from an arm wrestle against bigger teams.
Or finally he may choose to prioritise solidity and pick as big of a Cymru side as he can at a detriment to pace and athleticism, beef up the set piece and the defence to keep us in fixtures and then focus on an electric back three to take advantage on transition and punish teams for turning over ball.
What will be particularly interesting is Tandy’s player picks in key positions; replacement front row, blindside flanker, inside centre and full-back.
Up front there’s unlikely to be much debate around a Nicky Smith, Dewi Lake and Archie Griffin starting trio, but who comes off the bench to replace them will be something to keep an eye on. Gareth Thomas, Brodie Coghlan and Chris Coleman is probably the bigger, more physical option, but Rhys Carre, Liam Belcher and Keiron Assiratti would add a huge amount of carrying and mobility around the field.
At blindside there’s the physical option of Freddie Thomas, there’s the “athletic with a bit of edge” duo of Taine Plumtree and Alex Mann, or there’s the almost “second number eight” route whereby Aaron Wainwright or Olly Cracknell could slide over with the other, or Morgan Morse, packing down at actual number eight.
Into the centre and Tandy could stick with a second playmaker/triple threat player like Ben Thomas or Joe Hawkins, a more direct ball carrier in Max Llewellyn, or an organiser in that crucial defensive position in Nick Tompkins providing support to a young fly-half and potentially an inexperienced outside centre.
Finally, at full-back, he may opt for the safer option of continuing with Blair Murray with his sharp attack and brave defence but lack of aerial dominance, focus more on that aerial game with the rangy Jacob Beetham, or perhaps opt for a more surprise x factor option in the 15 jersey with Louis Rees-Zammit’s out-and-out pace.
There’s not necessarily a bad option there for Cymru. There’s more exciting game plans and there’s more pragmatic identities certainly, but with a quality level of coaching and buy-in from the players in a much better environment than we’ve seen around the national camps over the last few years, there’s opportunities for any of the approaches to be successful.
If Tandy gets his messaging right, has a bit of leeway within which to get his identity imprinted on the team over the next year or so, and has the psychological fortitude to stick to his guns and develop the game plan and combinations within that, then that 2027 RWC need not be as feared as it currently is by Welsh rugby supporters.
An intriguing Autumn awaits for the men in red. It might not produce too much in the way of scoreboard success, but if green shoots can be seen in terms of developing that identity and improve the performance levels then positivity can be grasped ahead of a three home game Six Nations campaign. All eyes now turn to that first team announcement.
Cardiff Rugby Life 