'It's getting boring' - rugby union must change warns Welsh great
Wales great Jonathan Davies fears rugby union is danger of “stagnating” as defences dominate the sport and lead to endless kicking battles that are turning fans away from the sport.
Davies has been dismayed to hear former players opting for golf and walking the dog rather than sitting through another international rugby match dominated by the team without the ball. The former Wales No10 fears England’s defence will be the dominant factor against Wales at Llanelli on Saturday with a repeat of the pressure and organisation that suffocated Ireland to a defeat at Twickenham.
Wales ended their losing run Georgia last weekend with Bristol’s Callum Sheedy at outside half, however, with the Welsh forwards currently struggling to win quick ball it looks certain Northampton’s Dan Biggar will be recalled to try and counter the kicking game that Ben Youngs and Owen Farrell use to move England into pressure positions.
Having masterminded attacking games plans in both rugby union and league, Davies is uniquely qualified to deliver a stinging verdict on the current state of the game he loves. Davies told RugbyPass: “Defence is the easiest thing to coach and it is a problem because you are not getting many great spectacles. I have always applauded rugby league for being brave and changing the laws to improve the sport as a spectacle.
“Rugby union is so weighted to the defence it worries me because the game is stagnating and it’s getting boring. It is important that this is looked at because talking to former players they are saying to me they are walking the dog or watching the game while reading the paper or heading to the golf club.
“Defences are so easy to orchestrate and the slowness of ball means that the box kick is the only option. You cannot play with slow ball against well-organised defences and assistant referees have to be more vocal when it comes to offside.
“Eddie Jones is right because the easiest thing to do is just defend at the moment and that is how the game has gone. England are saying to opponents “break us down if you can” and if you don’t then we will smash you all day. Eddie Jones doesn’t care about a spectacle – he just cares about winning.
“No one is going to bring back rucking to speed up the delivery of ball although I would much rather my kid be rucked than being cleared out while jackalling for possession. That is far more dangerous than rucking. If teams like England are only committing one player to the breakdown then another 13 will be in the defensive line with full back at the back.
“In that situation you have to move the ball wider to force the opposition wingers to come up into the line and create space to kick into and find grass. Even when you do win turnover ball at the moment, rather than putting in two passes and then looking at what is on, the ball is kicked straight away and that is so limited. If you are not getting quick ball then, unfortunately, Callum Sheedy is not going to be able to do anything and will get absolutely smashed if he tries to move slow ball.
The year is 2020 and this still has to be explained: https://t.co/qWxmPs6ww7
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) November 22, 2020
“The No.10 choice for Wales also depends who is at centre and we don’t have a kicking second five eighth.”
Davies believes the return of George North would offer Wales an attacking weapon to get over the gain line even though he has been badly underused at club and international level. “George played well at the weekend and do you bring him in and use him like Ireland use James Lowe?” added Davies. “He could be a massive asset for Wales if they used him properly and you also have Liam Williams and Josh Adams. I think Wayne Pivac will pick Leigh Halfpenny for this match.
“At the moment you have to fancy England on Saturday by double figures because Wales haven’t played that well and have struggled to get over the gain line.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Anna, You are right, we need to have patience whilst the others catch up to England and France. Also it is the PWR that has been the game changer for England. the RFU put money into that initially at the expense of the Red Roses. I was sceptical at first but it has paid off in spades.
1 Go to commentsI think Matt Proctor became a 1 test AB in the same fixture. Cameron is quality and has been great this season, can’t believe’s he only 27. Realistically how would he not be selected for ABs squad this year. Only Dmac is ahead of him as a specialist 10. With Jordan out, it will come down to where and when Beauden Barrett slots back in, and where they want to play Ruben Love. Cameron seems an absolute lock in for the wider squad though. Added benefit of TJ-Cameron-Jordie combination at 9, 10, 11 too.
1 Go to commentsFarcical, to what end would someone want to pay to keep this thing going.
1 Go to commentsHavili, our best 12 by a mile, will be in the squad, if he stays fit. JB is the most overrated AB in the last 50 years.
61 Go to commentsWe had during the week twilight footy, twilight cricket, tw golf plus there was the athletics club. Then the weekend was rugby 15s plus the net ball, really busy club scene back then but so much has changed and rugby has suffered. And it was all about changing lifestyles.
6 Go to commentsIn the 70s and 80s my club ran 5 Senior sides plus a Vets. Now it is 2 sides with an occasional 3rd team. Players have difficulty getting to training now, not sure why and the commitment is not there. It seems to me more a problem of people applying themselves and not expecting to turn up and play whenever they want to.
6 Go to commentsROG’s contract is until 2027. The conversation about a successor to Galthie after RWC 2027 may be starting now. We can infer that Galthie’s reign stops then. He is throwing the Irish Coaching Job angle in because he is Irish. The next Irish coach MUST be Leo Cullen. As well as being the best coach available, coaching the vast majority of Irish Internationals week in week out, he has shown incredible skill at recruiting the best coaching staff for the job in hand. That was a failing in France. Cullen is a shrewd guy and if there is a need for foreign coaches underneath him he won’t hesitate. Rightly so. Ireland does need to start to bring Irish coaches through. Not just at the professional level but we need to train coaches to man new pathways for developing kids from schools/clubs up through the divisions.
8 Go to commentsNo Islam says it must rule where it stands Thus it is to be deleted from this planet Earth
18 Go to commentsThis team probably does not beat the ABs sadly Not sure if BPA will be available given his signing for Force but has to enter consideration. Very strong possibility of getting schooled by the AB props. Advantage AB. Rodda/Skelton would be a tasty locking combination - would love to see how they get on. Advantage Wallabies. Backrow a risk of getting out hustled and outmuscled by ABs. Will be interesting to see if the Blues feast on the Reds this weekend the way they did the Brumbies we are in big trouble at the breakdown. Great energy, running and defence but goalkicking/general kicking/passing quality in the halves bothers me enormously. SA may have won the World Cup for a lot of the tournament without a recognised goalkicker but Pollard in the final made a difference IMO. Injuries and retirements leave AB stocks a bit lighter but still stronger. 12 and 13 ABs shade it (Barret > Paisami, Ione = Ikitau, arguably) Interesting clash of styles on the wings - Corey Toole running around Caleb Clark and Caleb running over the top of Toole. Reece vs Koro probably the reverse. Pretty even IMO. 15s Kelleway = Love See advantage to ABs man for man, but we are not obviously getting slaughtered anywhere which makes a nice change. Think talent wise we are pretty even and if our cohesion and teamwork is better than the ABs then its just about doable.
11 Go to commentsCompletely agree. More friday night games would be a hit. RFU to make sure every club has a floodlit pitch. Club opens again Saturday to welcome touch / tag. Minis and youths on Sunday
6 Go to comments1.97m and 105Kg? Proportionately, probably skinnier than me at 1.82 and 82kilos. He won’t survive against the big guys at that weight.
55 Go to commentsThe value he brought to the crusaders as an assistant was equal to what he got out of being there. He reflected not only on the team culture but also the credit he attributed to the rugby community. Such experience shouldn’t be overlooked.
8 Go to commentsGood luck Aussie
11 Go to commentssmith at 9 / mounga 10 / laumape 12 / fainganuku 14
61 Go to commentsBar the injuries, it’s pretty much their top team …
2 Go to commentsDon’t disagree with much of this but it appears you forgot Rodda and Beale, who started at the Force on the weekend.
11 Go to commentsExcept for the injured Zach Gallagher this would be Saders best forward pack for the season. Blackadder needs to stay at 7, for all of Christies tackling he is not dominant and offers very little else. McNicholfullback is maybe a good option, Fihaki not really upto it, there was a reason Burke played there last year. Maybe Havilli to 2nd five McLeod to wing. Need a strong winger on 1 side to compliment Reece
1 Go to commentsTo me TJ is clearly the best 9 in the competition right now but he's also a proven player off the bench, there's few playmaking players who can come off the bench as calm and settled as he is, Beauden can, TJ can and I doubt any of the scrumhalves in contention can, if they want to experiment with new 9s I want him on the bench ready to step in if they crumble under the pressure. The Boks put their best front row on the bench, I'd like to see us take a similar approach, the Hurricanes have been doing similar things with players like Kirifi.
61 Go to commentsROG has better chance to win a WC if he starts training and make himself eligible as a player. He won’t make the Ireland squad but I reckon he may get close with Namibia (needs to improve his Afrikaans) or Portugal. Both sides had 1000:1 odds to win the RWC in 2023 which is an improvement on ROG’s odds of winning a RWC as a coach. Unlike Top 14 teams, national teams can’t go shopping and buy the best players - you work with the available talent pool and turn them into world beaters.
8 Go to commentsthat backline nope that backline is terrible why would you have sevu Reece when he’s not even top 5 wingers in the comp why have Blackadder when there’s better players no Scott barret isn’t an automatic the guy is more of a liability than anything why have him there when you have samipeni who’s far far better
61 Go to comments