Posted by In the list of people to feel sorry for when it comes to the mess of Welsh rugby currently, journalists are realistically right down towards the bottom of the list. They should absolutely be on the list though.
How do you continue to write and talk about roughly the same thing every week? Another loss for Cymru, another shambolic PR exercise from the Welsh Rugby Union, another week without any news on Y11 Sport & Media’ purchase of Cardiff and the subsequent impact on the professional game as a whole.
I can’t imagine any journo or broadcaster got into the job to report and analyse the same crisis week-after-week, month-after-month, year-after-year. Finding any sort of new angle or insight must be draining, and yet all the while Welsh rugby just rumbles along without any real sense of urgency to solve getting out of the hole it is in.
From my point-of-view it’s probably worth just quickly re-capping how we ended up with 13 straight Six Nations defeats. From roughly the late 2000s to the mid-2015s there was suitable investment in the professional game. Academies produced talented young players, the Premiership was a good proving ground for them, and then the pro sides were excellent environments for them to come in to.
There was enough money to give Welsh prospects a good level of coaching between 18-20, then they were exposed to senior rugby between 20-23 before going on to the likes of Cardiff, Ospreys and Scarlets in particular who had built senior squads of top international talent supplemented by quality overseas players that could compete towards the top of the Celtic League and in the Heineken Cup.
However, while this produced a golden generation of players that would win grand slams and get to Rugby World Cup semi-finals, the WRU became complacent. Led by the incompetent egoist Roger Lewis, they completely failed to re-invest the financial benefits of a successful men’s national team in ensuring that eco-system continued to produce.
Over the course of the last decade investment in the pathway has reduced, and crucially investment in the professional game has withered away to a pittance. Nowadays – in spite of the system rather than because of it – the academies still manage to churn out talented players, but they step up into pro sides that have some of the lowest budgets in all of top level European rugby.
There’s no platform for them to develop and compete in high quality environments, testing themselves in meaningful games against the best teams in the northern hemisphere. The knock-on effect is a lowering of the quality in the national team player pool, and a Cymru side that has conceded over 100 points across the first two rounds on the 2026 Guinness Six Nations.
Of course it’s an even more extreme state of affairs because of those opening two opponents in England and France. Taking on the English at Twickenham is always a tough task, especially when their pack is so much bigger and more physical, while the French are the best side in the competition and seemingly will head into the last round hunting a grand slam.
Whether it’s right or perhaps just a desperate grasping of straws, there did seem to be some more positives to take from Sunday’s clash in Cardiff than the desolation of that defeat in West London.
The set piece was a major plus point with the lineout bouncing back from a tough outing against England to offer some semblance of a platform, while the scrum was on at least a par, and occasionally dominant, up against Les Bleus. Maul defence was solid enough, but there was no maul drive utilised when perhaps it could have been a sneaky weapon for Steve Tandy’s side.
Phase play defence was actually largely solid, with only two of the tries coming from line breaks during a multi-phase attack, and in the last quarter the attack seemed to click into life. Clearly there was an element of France beginning to cruise and space naturally opens up later in the game, but at least there was a desire to get into an attacking shape from Cymru.
Ultimately it was the kicking and kick chasing where the men in red really fell below par. When the kick was contestable in the middle third of the pitch it worked out well often enough to secure possession, territory and a broken field attacking opportunity, but all too long the kick execution or choice was incorrect, and the accompanying chase was disorganised and lacking intensity.
The visitors made line break after line break on kick returns, as well as scoring from whatever it was that went through the mind of Adam Beard on turnover ball, and it’s an area that will be punished again in this era of counter attacking and incisive back three play.
That’s for the future though, which is coming around quickly on a six-day turnaround to Scotland at home next Saturday. Not to disrespect the Scots, and being fully aware that they have just beaten England in a fixture fast becoming a bogey game for Steve Borthwick’s side, this match-up should give us a really good indication of just how far in the mud Cymru are.
Historically it’s a fixture that Gregor Townsend’s men have struggled with, as their poor record in Cardiff shows, and on a head-to-head basis this is one of the games where the men in red might fancy trying to get at their opposition.
Scotland are not arriving with a pack that is noticeably bigger or more powerful, especially after a few knocks sustained over the first two rounds of the competition, and they are set up to play in a similar way to Cymru with a desire to move the ball quickly, get it to the hands of danger men out wide and stress the opposition defence that way.
The visitors are still clear favourites, don’t get me wrong, and should be expecting to win to advance their chances of a top three finish, but the scoreline will be most interesting. If Tandy’s side stay within 10 points or so then it’s respectable, but if they are 20-30 points or more off then it may be time for the wider Welsh rugby public to admit that what the WRU are trying to do with the pro game is correct.
In a multi-year spell of rock bottoms and watershed moments, Saturday could well be another. Hopefully though, it’s a sign that – very slowly – Cymru are on the way back up.
Cardiff Rugby Life 