Call up for Young is common sense now
Whichever way you look at it, commonsense has finally prevailed with Wayne Pivac being allowed to select Thomas Young in his squad for the Autumn International series. Twice before he had asked in an emergency to include overseas players, but this was the first time the regions gave him the go-ahead.
The sight of Josh Navidi going down injured in Cardiff ’s defeat to the Bulls last week must have been the last straw for him. We’ve said for many years that No.7 is a strong position for us, but you simply can’t afford to lose seasoned international players when you are getting ready to face New Zealand, South Africa, Fiji and Australia.
Navidi followed fellow British & Irish Lion Justin Tipuric onto the long-term injury list and James Davies is still out of action. So, too, is Jim Botham.
As good a prospect as he is, Taine Basham can’t take on the world’s best all on his own for four weeks in a row, so the sensible thing was to find a way to get Young involved. He has been outstanding over his seven-year stint at Wasps and has deserved many more than the three caps he has to date.
I sincerely hope there are many more to come for him in the future and that if Pivac asks to include him in the Six Nations he will get the same answer. After all, he is heading home to Wales next season to re-join his father at Cardiff Rugby.
The 60-cap rule is obviously a great bargaining chip for the regions. It brought back Alex Cuthbert and Tomas Francis to the Ospreys, where George North had returned a few seasons earlier, and helped to relocate Rhys Priestland at Cardiff from Bath.
But is it just a means to get players on the cheap? Pivac, as with his predecessor Warren Gatland, will no doubt point to the greater ability he has to regulate the games played by his international stars if they are playing at home.
It also means he can get them into camp whenever he wants – inside or outside the international window. But does it mean they are playing the most competitive rugby available to them away from the Test arena?
The club v country debate is raging once again and it is only going to get louder and louder as
“Players can end up playing more games for Wales than for their regions”
world club competitions evolve. The compromise is always made in Wales on behalf of the national team because they are deemed to be the cash cow for the whole game here.
But in so doing the WRU actively work against the viability of the four regions, who are regularly shorn of their best players and who haven’t been able to perform to their best ability in their domestic league or Europe.
International rugby, it seems to me, has reached saturation point. There can be as many as 14 matches in a year and some players can end up playing more games for Wales than they do for their regions over the course of a season. I’m not sure that is the natural order of things!
There is increasing potential for growth within the club game on a global front and that is obviously why CVC has invested so heavily in club-based products. Yes, they have also put money into the Six Nations, but that is a well-established annual tournament that already provides rich returns.
The potential for growth within the new United Rugby Championship, Europe and a potential world club competition seems much greater than within the international arena. Take this autumn, for instance.
Pivac virtually told the Welsh fans to ‘hope for the best, but prepare for the worst’ over the next month. The chances of beating any of the leading southern hemisphere sides are slim and the real reason for adding the game against the All Blacks is to help fill the coffers after Covid.
At least he was up front and honest about it! But will it help his side’s development? The tickets have all gone, but what sort of crowd will it be? They will be there for the beer and the sense of occasion, not to see Wales win!
Sometimes, less can be more!