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L’occasion parfaite pour le Pays de Galles de lancer une nouvelle génération
L’ancien capitaine du Pays de Galles, Dan Biggar, estime que ce Tournoi des Six Nations est « l’occasion parfaite » pour le sélectionneur Warren Gatland de tester des joueurs inexpérimentés en vue de la Coupe du Monde de Rugby de 2027 en Australie.
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Au cours de l’année écoulée, aucune équipe n’a connu un exode aussi spectaculaire de ses joueurs les plus expérimentés que le Pays de Galles. Le joueur le plus capé de l’histoire internationale, Alun Wyn Jones, a pris sa retraite avant la Coupe du monde, ainsi que Justin Tipuric, tandis que Biggar et Leigh Halfpenny, comptant tous deux plus de 100 sélections chacun, ont également raccroché les crampons après l’élimination du Pays de Galles en quart de finale de la Coupe du monde.
En dehors du contingent des retraités, un autre centurion, Taulupe Faletau, n’est toujours pas revenu après une fracture du bras. Par conséquent, Gatland s’est vu privé d’une grande partie de son expérience au cours des derniers mois.
Beaucoup de talents prêts à éclore
Alors que le capitaine Jac Morgan va manquer le Tournoi après avoir subi une opération du genou, Gatland n’aura peut-être pas d’autre choix que de suivre les conseils de son ancien demi d’ouverture Dan Biggar.
Lors de l’émission The 2024 Guest List de BBC 5 Live Sport, celui-ci a déclaré qu’il y a « beaucoup de jeunes Gallois talentueux qui jouent dans les régions » et que Gatland devrait les essayer au début de ce cycle de la Coupe du monde.
« Nous sommes à un stade où nous devons découvrir un peu plus les joueurs », a poursuivi l’ouvreur de Toulon. « Nous avons beaucoup de joueurs qui sont au début de leur carrière, avec peut-être une poignée de sélections, et nous avons beaucoup de joueurs qui sont vers la fin de leur carrière avec un grand nombre de sélections. C’est difficile de savoir qui sera sur le terrain, car il y a beaucoup de combinaisons inconnues, beaucoup de joueurs qui vont intégrer leur toute première équipe.
« Je ne peux pas vous dire comment le Tournoi des Six Nations va se passer. Si vous voulez donner une chance aux jeunes et à l’inexpérience, c’est l’occasion idéale au début d’un cycle de quatre ans avant la Coupe du monde, mettre en place ce que vous voulez construire au cours des trois ans et demi à venir. »
Donner une chance à l’inexpérience
Le Pays de Galles n’est pas la seule équipe à avoir perdu une pléiade de joueurs expérimentés depuis la Coupe du monde, puisque les adversaires de toujours de Biggar au poste de numéro 10 – Johnny Sexton, Owen Farrell et Romain Ntamack – seront tous absents pour des raisons diverses. C’est pour cette raison que l’international gallois, qui compte 112 sélections, estime qu’il sera très difficile de se prononcer sur ce Tournoi.
« Je ne pourrais vraiment pas vous dire comment va se passer le Tournoi des Six Nations », répète-t-il. « La France sera privée d’Antoine Dupont et de Romain Ntamack pour la première fois depuis quatre ou cinq ans. L’Angleterre sera également privée d’Owen Farrell et de Courtney Lawes. Comment l’Irlande va-t-elle s’en sortir pour la première fois depuis ce qui semble être une éternité dans l’ère sans Johnny Sexton ? Du point de vue gallois, beaucoup de joueurs ont pris leur retraite ou ne sont pas disponibles pour le Tournoi des Six Nations.
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« Je ne sais pas comment les équipes vont réagir. Si vous regardez bien, l’Écosse est probablement l’équipe la plus stable et celle qui a connu la Coupe du monde la plus décevante. Ce n’est donc pas une mince affaire. »
Le Pays de Galles entame son Tournoi des Six Nations contre l’Écosse au Principality Stadium le 3 février.
Comments on RugbyPass
It was so boring
1 Go to commentspersonally I’d go with : 1. France 2. NZ 3. England 4. Ireland 5. Scotland
27 Go to commentsAndy everything becomes easier with experience therefor counting etc straight after a match becomes easier when you have 100+ caps vs 17 which is the experience you speak from.
160 Go to commentsGetting rid of the Dupont Law is a good thing and ought to have been done months ago! Officially getting rid of the croc roll is a good thing. The law about no scrums from a short arm is well intended in terms of speeding the game up but it’s an overreaction to a clever yet calculated gamble that could have blow up in South Africa’s face if they conceded a penalty from the scrum that was set after Willemse took claimed the mark in the World Cup QF.
53 Go to commentsRassie The GOAT
9 Go to commentsOf their 5 big matches in RWC Scotland and NZ were the easiest. They took a 12-3 lead against NZ and after the red decided it was best to hold the lead and take chances that came. None came and it was tight but they dug a lot deeper in the other two knock out matches. They had trounced NZ in Twickenham in a fixture that NZ must now regret. Psychology was clearly with SA in the final as a result.
27 Go to commentsMy favourite line/exchanges from Chasing the Sun 2. News headline: “SA. The last hurdle in ABs World Cup glory”. Something like that. “You’re all just a hurdle. A hop, skip and a jump”. Coming from Rassie and Jacque. Basically - nobody thinks you’re going to win. You’re just a pushover team. Nobody respects you. When the camera shows the players faces, you can see the effect. You can see the rev meters (die moer metertjies) firing up. Mitchell said he felt it prior to the 19 final. He said to Eddie watching the teams warming up that it was going to be a tough day at the office. Wave a red flag in front of South African, and you can expect a reaction. This is not unique - many teams rev themselves. And Bok teams in particular. With horrific consequences (discipline, poor thinking under pressure) because that’s the drawback to using emotion right? But what this Bok team does better than many since 2007 is channel the emotion and stay on task. Despite the emotion. Why, because while Rassie might play mind games - he talks about creating a safe environment. Listen to his recent honorary doctorate acceptance speech. While he uses psychology he creates psychological safety. He’s a damn fine coach. Can’t wait for Pretoria. It’s going to be a hummer.
9 Go to commentsWhat Rassie does for SA is big. It has helped people to unite and see we can win with the right people in place.
9 Go to commentsTerrible conditions for young players to express themselves just enjoy it guys. As a saffa great to see Ausie youth looking good. Wow SA have some great talent also.
2 Go to commentsYes, another example of French tv directors ensuring that incidents like this are swiftly glossed over for the benefit of their teams…
3 Go to commentsThe prospect of the club match ups across hemispheres is surely appetising for everyone. The reality however, may prove to be slightly different. There are currently two significant driving forces that have delivered to same teams consistently to the latter champions cup stages for years now. The first of those is the yawning gap in finances, albeit delivered by different routes. In France it’s wealthy private owners operating with a higher salary cap by some distance compared to England. In Ireland it’s led by a combination of state tax relief support, private Leinster academy funding and IRFU control - the provincial budgets are not equal! This picture is not going to change anytime soon. The second factor is the EPCR competition rules. You don’t need a PhD. in advanced statistical analysis from oxbridge to see the massive advantage bestowed upon the home team through every ko round of the tournament. The SA teams will gain the opportunity for home ko ties in due course but that could actually polarise the issue even further, just look at their difficulties playing these ties in Europe and then reverse them for the opposition travelling to SA. Other than that, the picture here is unlikely to change either, with heavyweight vested interests controlling the agenda. So what does all this point to for the club world championship? Well the financial differential between the nh and sh teams is pretty clear. And the travel issues and sporting challenge for away teams are significantly exacerbated beyond those already seen in the EPCR tournaments. So while the prospect of those match ups may whet our rugby appetites, I’m very much still to be convinced the reality will live up to expectations…
1 Go to commentsThe manipulative and cynical Erasmus….
9 Go to commentsWe see you World Rugby….we see you🤡😏
53 Go to commentsBoks are lucky to have a player of the calibre of PSDT in their ranks😍
7 Go to commentsI really like what the boks have done with bringing Vermeulen into their coaching setup. Perhaps they would have gone to france anyway, but Lawes and Farrell could at least have been offered assistant coaching roles. Lawes could probably aptly fill the brief (breakdown, contact skills, and handling) just given to Strawbridge; and Farrell could be a pretty good like for like replacement for Sinfield when he leaves. I probably wouldn’t want them in the national team set up just yet, but it would be good to see strings pulled to either get May, Youngs, Cole, & Care player-coaching roles in the premiership, or to move them into the under 20s coaching staff.
3 Go to commentsSo spiteful that the Springboks won again, they just had to change the laws so that they would stand a chance.
53 Go to commentsWhy would Eben lie? The guy has achieved so much. He saw it as arrogance. Any normal person who plays against the ABs year in and year out would have the same thoughts. Why even talk about the final when you have the biggest game of your lives next week in a stage you have never gotten passed? Rugly is simple in SA. Have fun but the most important thing is respect. I’m not buying any of this misinterpreted nonsense. Eben isn’t English, but no one during that interview was asking what did he say? He's speaking and therefore his understanding is perfectly fine. It was an arrogant thing to say, esp for a team that has never been to a final, never mind a semi. You guys up north can interpret it in a different way if you wish, maybe that s why you don’t win the biggest tournaments.
160 Go to comments> with Sky TV in New Zealand saying it has seen an 11 per cent lift in overall viewership this year. It’s easy for these kiwi “journalists” to throw around meaningless numbers to make it seem that things are improving, but if you look at the stats behind this 11 percent it says that after 10 rounds of rugby there is only a paltry 160k cumulative viewers in total.. That is on average 16k viewers watching a single round of Super Rugby. I very much doubt any of the other numbers that Gregor so proudly “reports” on.
38 Go to commentsGoode is a Prop that played Flyhalf…. Who gives a Sh@#t what he thinks anyway!
160 Go to commentsOne would hope when a player of such caliber is approached for transfer is traversed a lot more carefully. The question I ask, “is the players agent raising red flags in the first instance of contact”. By what I read assumptions are made by nzr based on player welfare provided to them. So what is that? Is it a wholistic approach where family balance is taken into account. Because thay’s what’s in the mix when players go off shore. I realize the money is a huge factor but when negotiations are initiated is nzr involved. As Lendrum says having our best players available is paramount to our success So here’s hoping they are effectively communicating.
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