WALES PUT OFF TRACK BY THEIR LACK OF PLATFORM
RUGBY has changed in many ways down the decades, but one age-old fundamental remains the same. If the front five don’t provide a platform, the rest of the team can’t perform.
The evidence of that was demonstrated in Paris on Saturday night as Wales succumbed to a dominant France. The scoreline would have been even heavier against us were it not for a typical French tendency to give away silly penalties just when they had the ascendancy.
As it was though, the manner of defeat was worrying and gives Wayne Pivac plenty of food for thought as he considers his selection options for Saturday’s Six Nations clash with Scotland.
Look, owing to injuries and unavailability, this was not the strongest XV Pivac could have put out in Paris. It was a weakened Wales, we should emphasise that.
However, what alarmed me most was how easily the French beat us at the basics of the game. Ball-carrying, collisions, set-piece. The quality of possession their front five provided meant France’s back-row and excellent half-backs were on the front foot pretty much throughout the 80 minutes, more often than not provided with excellent and quick ball.
We struggled because we couldn’t set such a platform. We have an excellent back row, tried and tested, but Taulupe Faletau was scrambling around trying to retrieve the ball at the back of a retreating scrum at times, rather than doing the many positive things going forward we know he is capable of.
Warren Gatland concentrated a little too much on Warrenball, but what did that term really mean? It consisted of a basic form of the game – taking the ball into challenge, keeping hold of it, trying to get forward anto other two yards and thus create a platform for the support players.
Then they could do the same, and so on.
It wasn’t everybody’s cup of tea, but it was better, certainly more successful, than anything we’re seeing at the moment.
I’m definitely not advocating a return to Warrenball, because I felt Gatland’s game plan was too limited at times. But we do need to get back to some rugby basics, set a much better platform for Scotland and then the Autumn Nations Cup games to come.
To that end, I believe Pivac should make changes to the team – and four of them should come in the tight five because what we saw in Paris proved yet again that is where everything starts.
We’ve struggled at the scrum since Adam Jones retired, but Wyn Jones, hopefully fit again, and Tomas Francis can bring more stability.
Jones has learned the dark arts of propping the hard way, via the Welsh Premiership where he did the grafting bit of head shoved up backside, so to speak, and the tricks of the front-row trade learned there can hold him in good stead at this level too.
He was our World Cup loosehead and needs to come back in to help provide the foundation that was missing on Saturday night.
On the other side I’d have Tomas
Francis, even though I have some concerns about him losing his starting place at Exeter.
Francis was getting up to speed with Wales before his unfortunate shoulder injury and, second choice at club level or not, he is still part of an Exeter match-day 23 that have just won the Heineken Cup and the English Premiership final.
So, he’ll be brimming with confidence.
Pivac seems to like Dillon Lewis, who to be fair showed up well at times in the loose against France. Fair play, he can turn over ball, get involved in handling.
But these skills should never come at the expense of basic scrummaging, they should be bonuses on top that you can perhaps work upon.
I feel Jones and Francis are better equipped to provide that set-piece platform and they should be supported by Sam Parry, who I’d give a first start to as hooker.
Ryan Elias didn’t really stake a claim to be Ken Owens’ full-time successor one day and, although he’s three years older, we need to see if Parry can step up to the mark.
The Welsh pack was terribly short of ball-carriers against France and Parry is a powerful player who can lead that sort of charge. In fact, teams can often take their lead from the hooker because he is always in the thick of it.
If they see their No.2 really taking it the opposition, the other players in the pack tend to follow suit.
Parry has been around the block a bit with the Ospreys, let’s see if he can provide that inspiration.
The other front-five change I’d advocate is Will Rowlands at lock. He can carry, get over the gainline, give us front-foot ball, and he’s fresh and ready after playing for Wasps in the English Premiership final.
The alternative would be the grunt of Jake Ball, but Rowlands deserves an extended run as Alun Wyn Jones’ lock partner. I just feel he has the general game to suit Wales, solid in the set-piece, but also powerful in the loose and able to make the hard yards.
No need to change any of the backrow because Aaron Wainwright, Justin Tipuric and Faletau bring excellent strengths to the side.
They just need the opportunity to show them.
I would make three changes behind though, starting with Louis Rees-Zammit in place of George North.
I agreed with Pivac that Rees-Zammit wasn’t quite ready for Test rugby last season, but the time has come to unleash him.
North didn’t seem to touch the ball until the end of the first half, which was the first time I heard his name mentioned. Josh Adams, in the meantime, was constantly coming infield to look for work. In my opinion, North didn’t appear to be doing that as much and the time has come to see if Rees-Zammit can bring his club form with Gloucester onto the international stage.
It’s certainly an exciting prospect. I’d also consider changing the two half-backs, although given the paltry possession they had to work with that may appear a little unfair. On the other hand, when they did have the ball they didn’t exactly set the Stade de France alight.
Gareth Davies deserves to start at nine ahead of Rhys Webb and I’d probably go with Rhys Patchell at 10, but very much with a view to bringing on newcomer Callum Sheedy and seeing if he is the answer to the outside-half jersey moving forward.
Sheedy has been shining for Bristol, in the league and in Europe, so is clearly bang in form and Wales need that from their playmaker right at this minute in time.
Dan Biggar didn’t have his best game in Paris, in fact I’ve never seen him miss so many shots at goal, but he’s been there a while and I’m still not convinced his style suits the more expansive approach Pivac wants with Wales.
Biggar has done well, to be fair, but we need to look to the future as well as the present and young Sheedy might prove to be the answer.
I think it’s probably asking a bit much for him to start against Scotland, so I’m being conservative and saying Patchell should, but Sheedy should come on. We need to start looking at him to see if he can control a game at international level.
Look, seven changes sounds a lot, but I suspect two of them, Francis and Rowlands, may well have started against France if available, while I read Wyn Jones had an injury.
So, for me, those three come back in anyway to help provide the grunt and very basics so sorely lacking in Paris.
Ball-carrying is part of the game, everyone should be able to do it. The French front five did, so must ours.