Ernest Hemingway reckoned: “The rain will stop, the night will end, the hurt will fade. Hope is never so lost that it can’t be found.” Quite what the author of For Whom The Bell Tolls would have thought had he been following the fortunes of the Wales rugby team in recent times we do not know.
But it seems a reasonable assumption to suggest his stoicism would have been tested.
Will the rain ever stop for Welsh rugby? Psychologists advise to guard against catastrophic thinking on the grounds that it can lead to fixation on worst possible outcomes, but after Wales’ 18th consecutive Test defeat, a 24-19 loss to Japan in Kitakyushu, such a way of looking at the world, and more specifically at the Welsh national team, seemed the way forward for plenty west of Offa’s Dyke.
One usually measured individual whom this writer spoke to on Saturday evening asked: ‘What are the odds on Wales losing 30 in a row?’
Who knows? But if they carry on playing as they did on Saturday, there’s no guarantee the bleak sequence of defeats will stop any time soon.
Social media was not a good place for players and coaches to visit after this latest reverse. In fact, it was not a particularly agreeable place for any paid commentator on the game in Wales to stroll through. An especially well-received post on one website took aim at presenters, pundits and reporters for labelling “average players quality, great or outstanding”, with the same contributor offering the view that those involved were “too chummy with coaches”, with criticism thereby muted.
A lot had a go at Welsh Rugby Union chief executive Abi Tierney, of course they did, while there were also calls for the squad to be brought home en bloc, of course there were. One individual even brought obesity in Wales, unemployment and ‘teens on screens’ into the argument.
What to make of it all? Let’s suggest it could be seen as a shade generous to refer to some of Wales’ least effective performers against Japan as being average. On the evidence of what we saw in the northernmost city of Kyushu, more than a few of those in red could have few complaints if ‘below average’ or ‘miles below average’ were tagged next to their names.
It’s an understatement to say that interim head coach Matt Sherratt inherited a poor hand – someone holding the two of hearts, an old bus ticket and a library card that expired in 1973 might feel marginally better-placed than Matt – but every job comes with scrutiny and the selection and tactics for last weekend were the responsibility of the team boss and his coaches. Had Wales won, there would have been plaudits; with defeat comes brickbats. ’Twas ever thus.
Taulupe Faletau should be exempted from criticism, with the old master once again standing apart from the mediocrity. Involved in two of Wales’ tries, he finished with 14 ball carries, four more than anyone else on the field, despite being on the pitch for just 56 minutes.
Sherratt’s team were a space flight away from being where they needed to be, unable to dominate up front and lacking both class and punch behind. Their lineout misfired and so did their scrum: without a stable set-piece platform, they needed to respect what possession they did win, but they turned the ball over 14 times. They also missed 19 tackles, kicked inaccurately and of 10 dominant hits made during the game, Japan made nine of them.
The tourists also struggled for ball-carrying impact up front, while the introduction of the second-half bench saw performance levels dip rather than rise: reverse impact, then.
Taulupe Faletau should be exempted from criticism, with the old master once again standing apart from the mediocrity. Involved in two of Wales’ tries, he finished with 14 ball carries, four more than anyone else on the field, despite being on the pitch for just 56 minutes. When he departed the scene, the visitors were ahead 19-7; without him they slipped five points behind over the next 15 minutes.
Such things happen when greatness leaves the picture. For further evidence, m’lud, recall the case of Gorgodze v Argentina at the 2015 World Cup. Down 14-9 to the Pumas midway through the second half of a pool game, Georgia saw their star performer Mamuka Gorgodze yellow carded. Argentina promptly banged in three tries in six minutes, going on to win 54-9. Some players simply have to be kept on the pitch. Had Faletau managed to stay part of proceedings last weekend, there’s a more than reasonable chance that Wales would have prevailed.
Effort wasn’t a problem for Dewi Lake, with Wales’ skipper returning double-figure tackling and carrying counts and achieving two turnovers. On the debit side, the lineout was an issue. James Ratti also grafted, while in defence Alex Mann fronted up.
But it wasn’t enough, nowhere near enough. Wales lacked leaders to back up Lake, while the half-backs struggled to put a stamp on the game and the centre combination failed to gel.
Would the outcome have been different had the match been played in the evening rather than in the blast-furnace heat of the afternoon? We will never know, but the home players knew what was coming and were able to cope better with the soaring temperatures and energy-sapping humidity.
The largely inexperienced Japan side they faced last weekend were not exactly fearsome, only sorting themselves out when Faletau departed and Wales tired. Over the past year, Georgia and Italy are among opponents who have beaten the Brave Blossoms on Japanese soil.
A bit of thought and heels dug in at the planning stage of the tour might have produced a different result, though the way Wales are playing it is uncertain any time of the day or night would suit them. Any time, any place, anywhere guys the class of 2025 are not.
There again, the largely inexperienced Japan side they faced last weekend were not exactly fearsome, only sorting themselves out when Faletau departed and Wales tired. Over the past year, Georgia and Italy are among opponents who have beaten the Brave Blossoms on Japanese soil. But the task was beyond Wales.
Gloom and doom never seems far away, along with a sense of foreboding. The WRU, after all, are still mulling over a way forward for Welsh rugby with the west regions under well-documented threat of ending up seriously disadvantaged over funding, a scenario that would not only be unfair but also unwise with the Ospreys and Scarlets responsible for all six Welsh league title successes in the regional era.
There are even suggestions of a cull of one or even two regions, a course of action that would risk further draining interest from the oval-ball sport in Wales and open the possibility of legal challenges from the impacted parties.
Does all the instability help the national team? It’s a question that doesn’t need answering.
The reality is Wales are paying the price for a malfunctioning supply line of players stretching back over a decade or more, with progress in the months and years ahead likely to be slower than many would like. That said, the new national coach will presumably have the mindset that the only way is up.
Are there any kind of fixes that might improve the mood in the short term? A thousand people will have different views on that one. But the new man could start by ringing Tomas Francis in Provence to check if he is still off limits for Test rugby.
Gatland’s permanent successor might ponder recalling Sam Davies to the setup after the fly-half’s outstanding form for Grenoble. The Rosbifs Rugby Podcast recently named him in their Pro D2 team of the season, calling him ‘the magician in the mountains’. Hyperbole or not, he deserves to be looked at again.
The tight-head may say he’s still focused on his family life and career out in France, but if there’s even a small chance he might want to rejoin the international fray, it could be worth asking the question. Wales’ scrummaging problems have gone on for too long.
While he’s about it, Gatland’s permanent successor might ponder recalling Sam Davies to the setup after the fly-half’s outstanding form for Grenoble. The Rosbifs Rugby Podcast recently named him in their Pro D2 team of the season, calling him ‘the magician in the mountains’. Hyperbole or not, he deserves to be looked at again.
Blair Murray, Tom Rogers, Mason Grady, Joe Hawkins, Josh Adams, Sam Davies/Jarrod Evans, Tomos Williams, Nicky Smith/Gareth Thomas, Dewi Lake, Tomas Francis/Henry Thomas, Rhys Davies/Will Rowlands/Jake Ball/Dafydd Jenkins/Adam Beard, Ross Moriarty/Aaron Wainwright, Jac Morgan, Tommy Reffell and Taulupe Faletau and a few others wouldn’t be a bad core of players to start moving forward with again, potentially offering youngsters beyond those the chance to develop, among them Costelow, Dan Edwards and Archie Griffin, along with other up-and-comers such as Macs Page, Louie Hennessey, Harri Ackerman, Stef Emanuel, Carwyn Leggatt-Jones, Harry Thomas, Huw Anderson, James Fender, Harri Deaves, Sam Scott and Morgan Morse.
Meantime, the interminable wait for the new coach goes on. And the wait for clear, confident and assured direction for the professional game in Wales continues, too.
Just last week, the Glastonbury set of Creedence Clearwater Revival’s John Fogerty saw him perform the classic ‘Who’ll stop the rain?’ Over The Bridge, the question remains: ‘Who’ll stop the rain for Welsh rugby?’ It’s a poser we have been asking for too long.
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