Jackson: Wales need The Sheriff to ride tall
Team Wales took delivery last week of some reinforced scaffolding designed to help craftsmen reach the highest dents in Alun Wyn Jones’ lofty leadership. The damage inflicted by losing four of the last five matches has left the aura of his imperious command in urgent need of repair, a restoration of morale made all the more imperative given that this is Twickenham week.
Despite the scrapes and scratches inflicted by France, Ireland, New Zealand and South Africa, Jones, of course, remains a figure as monumental as his record. England on Saturday will be his 147th Test, one short of the only player left standing above him – Richie McCaw.
The All Black openside endured 14 years without losing more than two matches on the trot, and then only once – never mind four out of five. England, to use their coach’s favourite buzzword, will expect to bring their brutality to bear and make it five out of six.
In his 13 years at the highest level, Jones has compiled a Himalayan range of facts and figures built on the relentless mantra of onwards and upwards. Only once has he known how it feels to lose three Six Nations’ matches in a row, way back during his debut year of 2007.
Wales lost at home to Ireland (9-19), Scotland at Murrayfield (9-21) and France in Paris (21-32). They were unable to keep up with the Joneses despite packing their team with six of them in Edinburgh: Ryan, Mark, Stephen, Adam, Duncan and Alun Wyn.
The captain’s losing run began at the World Cup under the old regime, therefore it cannot be attributed entirely to the new one. “Ultimately Test rugby is about winning and we need to do that pretty quick,’’ says Jones. “People say a lot has changed but that’s an excuse.’’
Wales had rediscovered how to lose before Warren Gatland’s marathon stint ran its course, contradicting the ex-head coach’s boast that they had ‘forgotten how to lose’, as reflected in a recordequalling 13 straight wins suitably adorned by a Grand Slam.
No such title will be at stake on Saturday but the neighbourly joust will be no less intense. England at Twickenham has always stirred the soul though not always as the Welsh would have wished.
The memory is awash with images of JPR turning ‘HQ’ into his very own fiefdom throughout the Seventies, of Chico Hopkins turning a lost cause into a winning one and, more recently, of no-contests when the floodgates opened wide enough for England to run up 60 points.
The fixture has never been slow to dabble in the outrageous, never more so than back in 1958 when Fred Mathias and friends from Manorbier in Pembrokeshire sneaked back into Twickers at the dead of night to saw off a piece of the England crossbar.
A timber merchant from Llanelli, Terry Davies, offered to provide the RFU a brand-new crossbar free of charge. He just happened to be the same Terry Davies whose long-distance penalty had secured Wales a draw, 3-3.
Draws at Twickenham then became all the rage. Three more followed in rapid succession: 0-0 (1962), 6-6 (1964), 11-11 (1968) and there hasn’t been one in the 50-odd years since.
Jones will be bothered about a more recent set of Twickenham figures. Since knocking England out of their own World Cup there five years ago, Wales have lost all four visits.
As startling evidence of how nothing stays the same for long in Test rugby, the starting XV Wayne Pivac sends out this time will bear precious little resemblance to the team Gatland picked for the last Six Nations fixture at Twickers when England held on to win 12-6.
Of the Welsh backs that day, only one can be sure of reappearing (Hadleigh Parkes). The rest are either injured (Gareth Anscombe, Josh Adams, Rhys
Patchell), out of favour (Steff Evans, Scott Williams) or likely to be back on the bench (Gareth Davies).
Of the pack from two years ago, only Jones can be guaranteed selection although Ken Owens has enough credit in the bank to resist the rising challenge of Ryan Elias and Elliot Dee.
If ever Wales need a big game from ‘The Sheriff ’, this is the one. The same goes for everyone else because it will require something special, even by Jones’ standards, if he is to side-step the grim prospect of a fifth defeat in six matches.
As Vince Lombardi, the Superbowl-winning coach of the Green Bay Packers, used to say: “Winning is not a sometime thing. It’s an all-the-time thing.’’
“England will be his 147th Test, one short of the only player above him, Richie McCaw”