Time for Warren to blood new Dragons
NOW IS the time for Wales to roll the selection dice. Warren Gatland will name his squad for the November Tests next week and while I’m not advocating wholesale changes, a couple of fresh faces are long overdue.
Before I expand on my thoughts, let’s be clear on one thing. Warren’s party will contain many of the players we are used to and rightly so. The experienced guys in Wales’ squad have significant credit in the bank, they’ve won big games for their country and, quite frankly, we don’t have enough high-quality players to dispense with the ones already in place.
That said, you don’t get anywhere without slowly bringing through the next generation and in that regard, Wales are no different to any other outfit.
It’s for that reason I was really disappointed by the Autumn campaign last season. Yes Wales won three of the four games, but apart from Sam Davies, they didn’t blood any new stars of regional rugby and that was a missed opportunity.
We can’t make that same mistake again.
So, who would I pick if I were Warren? Well, aside from automatic selections like Dan Biggar, Alun-Wyn Jones and Jonathan Davies, I can’t see any reason why Steffan Evans shouldn’t be in the squad. I also think Warren should give Tyler Morgan, Ollie Griffiths and Seb Davies the chance to make a statement of intent in the next month or so. They all deserve a shot at the highest level.
Of course all three of those guys – and Steff too – have caps for Wales on the back of the summer tour clashes with Tonga and Samoa, so they aren’t total novices. But here’s the thing, I think Wales have got it wrong in the last couple of years with the way they’ve introduced new players.
In the past, we’ve thrown five or six younger guys straight in at the deep end against teams like Tonga, Samoa and Japan. That’s had pretty disastrous results at times and I’d like to see only or two players given starts this autumn in a team which still boasts plenty of experience.
Why couldn’t Seb play 40 or 50 minutes against Australia or South Africa alongside Alun-Wyn at lock? What’s to stop Steff having the last half hour against the All Blacks? And why couldn’t Ollie step in for the injured Sam Warburton, maybe in the Georgia game?
Not all of these guys should be thrown in, but with Warren returning to the side I think he certainly won’t be afraid to give some of the new guys a chance. It’s happened before. George North and Leigh Halfpenny came in on the wings when I was still playing, as did Tom Prydie who was barely out of school... at least it seemed like that!
That hasn’t happened for a while since and any players Warren will pick won’t be as much of a gamble as Tom and George were all those years ago. Let’s face it, too, we’ve seen both England and New Zealand bring in some of their best young talent and they’ve had great success at doing it. I don’t see why we should be different. If you’re good enough, you’re old enough.
For me, the key is to give them their chance when they’re flying and full of confidence and Steff is certainly doing that at the moment.
He’s on fire and arguably should be competing for a starting spot ahead of guys like George and Liam Williams. I’m not sure that’ll happen, but he’ll certainly be in the squad, as will Ollie and Tyler who have impressed for a struggling Dragons side.
It’s the same for Seb who hasn’t had the best of times with Cardiff Blues but is still producing some hugely impressive rugby.
Those four are among the best young Wales talent we have and one thing we’ve always been good at in this country is helping generate the next wave of youngsters.
They’re crying out for a chance and if they’re given it – so long as it’s in the right circumstances – I don’t think they’ll let anyone down.
Over to you Warren, let’s let the young dragons breathe fire!
“Wales have got it wrong in the last couple of years with the way they’ve introduced new players”