Posted by Against a backdrop of poor results on the field, and incredible uncertainty off it, Cymru begin their 2026 Guinness Six Nations campaign against England at Twickenham late on Saturday afternoon.
It’s just two wins in 21 Six Nations games for the men in red, dating back to the end of the 2021 Championship when Wayne Pivac’s side were actually going for a Grand Slam. However, since then there have been two years of single wins and the last two years of zero wins-wooden spoon action. Tough times indeed.
At no point since Project Reset in 2019 has there been a Six Nations not set against a narrative of turmoil off-field for Cymru, but this year feels particularly significant as the Ospreys seem unavoidably set to at least drop out of the professional level of the club game come the summer of 2027, leaving many players and coaches with a major concern over their future.
Yet despite all that there is very, very tentative reasons to be a bit more positive about the prospects for Steve Tandy’s side in this year’s Championship.
Having taken over the Head Coach role late in the summer after leaving his position as Scotland Defence Coach, the former back rower oversaw some green shoots of progress during the Autumn Nations Series with a battling win over Japan and a competitive hour or so against the All Blacks. It’s still a mile off going for a Grand Slam, but it creates hope of avoiding a third straight year without a Six Nations win.
That victory is unlikely to come in round one though with Cymru heading east up the M4 for a showdown with England. Steve Borthwick’s men are tipped by many to be going into the final weekend’s clash with France in a position to win the title, having built up slowly from the end of Eddie Jones’ stint in charge to where they are now with enviable strength in depth.
Instead Tandy’s side just need to focus on working on elements within the game that could lead to victories down the line when the likes of Scotland and Italy arrive in Cardiff. Although I’d love to see us get after an ageing and creaking Ireland side! Contrary to a seemingly quite popular belief among social media commenters though, those elements will not be around a power or strength game.
Opinions still exist that Cymru should just pick the biggest/most physical side available to the coaching staff. There are those who still revere Warren Gatland and call for the likes of Rhys Davies to replace Adam Beard, Ross Moriarty to be parachuted into the back row, a centre partnership of Eddie James and Owen Watkin, and maybe even Ben Thomas at 10.
Now I’m not arguing that this would beef up the starting XV, but the question is would it add enough power and physicality to go toe-to-toe with the likes of England, France and, on their day, Ireland? I would say no. It will get some sort of parity with the likes of Scotland and Italy, but at a cost to the speed and dynamism required to make the most of that parity.
Instead Cymru have to try and do something different. Selection and tactics have to be focused on areas where we can get the better of our opposition, not just search for ways to try and match up with them.
The kicking and aerial game will be a massive focus. Moving opposition packs around, preventing them from being able to put their power game in action in dangerous areas of the field, hunting for transitional attacking opportunities and generally disrupting the momentum. If the men in red can kick upwards of 20 times a game on their own terms then they can cause problems.
Then being clinical in the red zone, playing with tempo and stretching the opposition defence when we do get into try scoring opportunities. Coming short into traffic repeatedly will be an issue, but getting the likes of Aaron Wainwright and Alex Mann into the wider channels to combine with the exciting outside backs is somewhere Tandy’s side can get joy.
And in defence it’s all about organisation, work rate and line speed. Two-man tackles holding ball carriers up to slow down the recycle time, outworking the opposition around the corner and getting off the line to make contact behind the gain line and force errors.
Cymru’s golden generation is no more. We do not have the likes of Ken Owens, Alun Wyn Jones, Dan Lydiate, Sam Warburton, prime Taulupe Faletau, Dan Biggar, Jamie Roberts, Jon Davies, Alex Cuthbert or George North on hand to dominate games with their sheer size.
On the whole we’re smaller, nimbler but crucially, as skilful. That has to be the focus now, building a game plan to suit the strengths of this squad and not the glory days of times gone by. If we can develop that, and then drip feed some size in as and when it appears again, it sets Tandy’s side up for a slow but sure return to the top.
If we continue to hark for the olden days then we’ll be consigned to the wooden spoon for the foreseeable.
Cardiff Rugby Life 