In Cheltenham week, right horses to ensure

EVERYONE has had a tough job at some time – ask Jamie Carragher’s window cleaner, Eddie Jones’s PR man, or the bloke who used to give Bakkies Botha his early morning alarming calls.

Mike Tyson’s old sparring partner circa 1988 is another who has to be worth a nod.

But those who pick sporting teams; they also have their work cut out to please everyone, especially in this part of the world.

The task can make or break a coach or manager.

The comedian Russell Brand once gave the then England football boss Steve McClaren a semi-humorous bashing for his perceived habit of being swayed by public opinion in selection. “’You don’t want Beckham? He’s gone. No Paul Robinson you say? He’s history. You want Beckham back? One moment, I’ll pop off and get him,’” Brand teased in The Guardian.

It is unlikely Warren Gatland would ever be tricked into fielding a team of players’ wives.

And it is equally improbable the New Zealander will ever bend in the face of public pressure; that isn’t his style. Who do you listen to, anyway? A survey of fly-half preferences conducted after Wales’s match with Scotland would have seen pretty much everyone back Rhys Patchell to start against England. Perhaps even Dan Biggar and Gareth Anscombe would have voted for the Scarlet, so impressively did he perform.

But after the flame-haired one crashed and burned at Twickenham and Anscombe came up with an eyecatching cameo at No. 10, the probability is many would have wanted the Cardiff Blue to be given the jersey.

Go further back to the South Africa match before Christmas and there might even have been a majority in favour of Biggar holding his place after the Osprey’s excellent performance against the Springboks.

Trek back even further again, to mid-autumn, and there were plenty who would have fancied Rhys Priestland for the job of steering SS Gatland.

And, at one point, at least one respected judge reckoned the form No. 10 in Wales to be Scarlets youngster Dan Jones. So what is a coach to make of it all? Well, as Abraham Lincoln never quite said about Welsh rugby, you can’t please all of the people all of the time, and particularly on the vexed question of who should wear the No. 10 jersey for Wales.

You simply have to call it as you see fit. So it’s Biggar who features against France in Cardiff.

It’s a pick that hasn’t prompted too Principality Stadium, 5pm many street parties from Colwyn Bay to Carmarthen.

Indeed, when the news came through on Thursday afternoon, there was an audible groan around the office where this writer works. It was as if Wales had opted for Danny DeVito at No. 10, not Dan Biggar.

Yet nine months ago the Osprey played with some distinction for the Lions. Some deemed him unlucky not to win a Test cap. Biggar did all he could to pressure Johnny Sexton and Owen Farrell.

But his detractors argue that he lacks an attacking game.

It is absolutely true he is no Phil Bennett tribute act, but he still managed to set up three tries for the Ospreys against Cardiff Blues in early January, two of them via accurate diagonal kicks and the other with a trademark chip and gather.

He also passed quite beautifully in that match and selected his plays as skilfully as he has done at any point in his career. Anscombe flickered brightly, but the fly-half duel that day was decisively won by Biggar.

He now needs to play like that Wales.

He needs to play flatter and create opportunities for others. for He needs to trigger the Welsh backs. And he needs to win the battle for the skies and display his usual passion and will to win around the field without haranguing the referee. Then he might start to convince the doubters he is worthy of his place. But don’t gamble the new Porsche on that. If Biggar contrives to perform a minor miracle against France, there will still be those who will ask why he failed to come up with a major one. It’s the way the world is. Whatever, Gatland has stuck by his convictions. Wales were routed in the air by England and at the breakdown by Ireland. The coach has tried to remedy those deficiencies. So Biggar, Leigh Halfpenny and Liam Williams should seriously help Wales when the ball is hoisted high, while the inclusion of Justin Tipuric, Taulupe Faletau and Tomas Francis, none of whom started in Dublin, will assist Josh Navidi in the battle for turnovers. Many are not buying it, believing Gatland has blinked and reached for the comfort blanket of experience and dependability instead of persevering with the flair and enthusiasm of Owen Watkin, Steff Evans and James Davies, perhaps with a dash of Anscombe or Patchell lobbed in to give the brew an extra kick.

It will not matter a jot to the New Zealander, who will argue he is simply being pragmatic.

Do not believe that is a new phenomenon in Welsh rugby.

Rewind to the 1970s and Wales were ruthlessly pragmatic at times, wearing opponents down through superior fitness before finishing them off with final-quarter flourishes.

It is a myth that it was all about running rugby for sides in red in the decade of flares, platform shoes and kipper ties. It was about winning: first, second and third. If the victories came with a bit of style, so much the better. The first commandment of those teams was never ‘Thou shalt try to play like the Barbarians in every game.’ France will be no pushovers this weekend.

They have just done something that Wales haven’t managed to do for five years and that is account for England in the Six Nations. They have also beaten Italy and run Scotland and Ire-