FRONT ROW LEGEND

IF Rob Howley is going to salvage his reputation as a coach, this is the time to do it. Wales have two games left of their Six Nations campaign, and while they can’t win anything this season, there is still time for the players and coaches to show they are not as bad as pretty much the whole world and his wife are making out.

Everyone wants changes for the game with Ireland on Friday, which is understandable after the woeful second-half effort against Scotland.

I have been saying for a while the time for bringing people through was immediately after the last World Cup, but Wales failed to do the necessary and the result is we are close on two years into the rugby cycle and we still don’t know whether our youngsters can hack it or not.

Howley named seven uncapped guys in his Six Nations squad but not one of them has been used, which makes you wonder what was the point of the exercise in the first place.

The coach has also failed to start Sam Davies.

The trick is to work one or two young players into a side, rather than throwing the lot in at once, but even that hasn’t happened.

For Ireland, the Welsh back-row selection will attract much attention again, because Sam Warburton and Justin Tipuric largely went well at Murrayfield and Ross Moriarty probably still has credit in the bank after his big display against England.

Also, Taulupe Faletau is fit and I don’t see the former Dragon staying on the bench indefinitely.

Faletau has had injuries this season, but let’s not forget what a quality player he is. Not many No.8s in world rugby could have rescued the ball from a pulverised scrum and set up a try as Faletau did against England in Cardiff two years ago.

The two best No.8s I played with were Mervyn Davies and Jeff Squire. The game was different in those days and Davies had to get up under his own steam to win lineout ball, but he did so superbly and was everywhere around the field.

Squire’s high point came on the Lions tour of South Africa in 1980. He was in a back row that effectively had two blindside flankers but he worked tirelessly and proved his world class.

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I am not comparing Faletau to those guys at this point, but I think he has the ability to get better and better, especially if Wales manage to evolve their game.

My guess is Howley will start with Warburton, but Tipuric may have to be content with a bench spot this week, with Moriarty on from the start to help soften up the Irish in what is sure to be a physical opening quarter.

It would be no surprise to see Luke Charteris back as well.

Howley’s call at 10 will be important. Dan Biggar is capable of raising his game in adrenaline-fuelled matches but Wales lack creativity. If Howley fails to pick Davies, let’s hope he sends him on as a replacement at the right time against Ireland, not leave it until the game has gone.

As was the case at Murrayfield, with the game effectively over by the time Davies was sent on to try to rescue things.

Eddie Jones has shown Wales the way with his use of substitutes during this Championship. He has developed England’s bench as well as their starting XV, fully understanding that rugby is an 80-minute game and a strong pool of replacements can swing a match if deployed skilfully in the final quarter.

Ireland are a quality side and Wales will need to be at the top of their game to win.

They have a habit of picking themselves up after a boot up the backside, but they need to play for 80 minutes. Do that and they have a chance. Switch off early and it’ll be the same old story.