World Rugby ought to be grateful for Patchell
The Welsh scrum had splintered like a trunk of rotting balsa wood when Romain Poite stepped aside from the rubble to deliver a damning verdict. Taken aside by the French referee, Josh Navidi knew what would be coming because he had seen it all collapse in front of him. As captain knee-deep in the debris at No.8, he must have felt horribly like the boy on the burning deck on his big day as the second migrant’s son to lead his country behind Taulupe Faletau.
“Engagement too close,’’ Poite told Navidi. “Collapsing. Not steady.’’
Nobody could accuse Monsieur Poite of exaggeration. The vast majority of the 62,905 who had come to send their team off to Japan on a triumphant note witnessed something they hadn’t seen before, a set-piece demolition on an alarming scale.
No sooner had Poite issued his warning than the scrum lurched from bad to worse. It wasn’t that the referee’s words fell on deaf Welsh ears, merely a case of a collective inability, physically and technically, to resist an Irish eight based on their second-choice front row.
The ordeal of the next seven minutes brought irreparable damage. Leon Brown, the substitute tighthead, went to the bin for the next collapse and he barely had time to sit down than Ireland were denied a try because of a marginal forward pass.
For Wales, there was no escape, no respite from the kind of suffering their opponents had been exposed to at Twickenham seven days earlier. The humiliated were now in the business of inflicting a degree of humiliation intensified by the advent of Rory Best and Tadhg Furlong.
Even when Chris Farrell did his unwitting best to let Wales off the hook by knocking-on in reaching for the line, the home scrum proved every bit as fragile on their own put-in as Ireland’s. The punishment went on until Poite, for all his patience, could delay applying
the final indignity no longer.
There was an inevitability about the penalty try which undermined Wales’ 11-match home winning streak. The writing had been daubed on the wall in large black capital letters from the sight of the Welsh scrum going backwards over a distance of at least five metres.
Despite changing both props, the scrum repeatedly found itself jammed into reverse gear. They folded often enough to concede at least eight penalties, all debited to Samson Lee, Rob Evans and Brown, an ominous sign that the Welsh strength-in-depth is not as deep as had been imagined.
Only Rhys Carre, the 21-yearold 20-stone new cap on the loosehead, kept a clean sheet but that, for all his vast promise, had more to do with the fact that he had been withdrawn from the firing line at half-time.
Warren Gatland put the grisly set-piece penalty count at nine. His last home match at the end of the longest reign of any international coach was never meant to end like this, allowing a demoralised opponent to bounce back off the ropes.
Taking final leave of a favourite stage can be a hazardous business. Gatland’s tacit criticism of Ireland’s World Cup planning in the wake of their destruction the previous week may have cajoled the gods into taking immediate retribution.
Tempting fate and all that. His last exit from the shrine beside the Taff, his monumental home for almost 12 years, was never going to rival the anti-climactic magnitude of Usain Bolt’s last race, Don Bradman’s last innings or Muhammad Ali’s last fight.
For a start, the Mooloo Man from Waikato would never dream of elevating himself into such a holy trinity. Secondly, Gatland knows that he and Wales may yet leave on an indelible mark on the global stage with a World Cup to be won in Japan.
Whether they justify their ranking and go all the way to the final in Yokohama in nine weeks’ time depends on how they handle Australia during the last Sunday of the month in Tokyo. Win and Wales will expect a quarter-final against France, lose and they are more likely to run into the careering English chariot.
The question now is how many of the supporting cast will make the cut for the Orient or, more pertinently, how few. Owen Lane seized the most belated opportunity with both hands, decorating his debut with a try requiring a suitably stylish finish.
Aaron Shingler has surely done more to make sure he goes as the fifth back row forward behind Justin Tipuric, Ross Moriarty, Aaron Wainwright and Navidi. Cory Hill’s serious doubt due to injury makes Shingler’s ability to double up as a second row all the more appealing.
Nobody made a more compelling case for a seat on the plane than Rhys Patchell. Forced to wait until the last 40 minutes of the third warm-up match for a chance to drop a last-minute reminder of his ability, Patchell changed the game for which World Rugby ought to be mighty grateful.
His intervention spared them the embarrassment of explaining how Ireland had gone to No. 1 in
“Despite changing both props the scrum repeatedly found itself jammed in reverse gear”
the rankings. They needed a 15point win over Wales Reserves to turn the absurdity into reality and entered the last quarter 19 clear.
Patchell, more than anyone, gave hope to the hopeless, inspiring Wales into a revival which raised the fleeting prospect of turning a 22-3 deficit into the most implausible of wins. All of a sudden, the Red Dragon brotherhood swore they could see a Phoenix rising from the ashes of their scrum.
Had Elliot Dee not lost the ball in a one-handed lunge for the line a few minutes earlier, they might actually have heard the mythical old bird squawking all over Cardiff. Patchell at least had the last word, stepping inside one Irishman and outside two more before converting his try to put Wales within striking distance.
Jarrod Evans had preceded Patchell, rescuing his troubled team from the tightest of corners during a costly first-half. Like every other contender, Gatland’s policy of making do with two flyhalves means a straight choice between Evans and Patchell as Dan Biggar’s No. 2.
Evans’ bench selection for both matches against England points to his being next in line in the pecking order shortened by Gareth Anscombe’s cruel elimination. That may have been reinforced by Gatland’s surprisingly downbeat reaction to Patchell’s challenge: “It’s a hell of lot easier coming off the bench with no pressure on you. He’s done well.’’
When the white smoke starts billowing above their training base not long after high noon today, the nine not among the chosen ones for Japan will be given the word, by text, phone, email or not at all.