A magnificent seven?The Welsh rugby milestones that could be reached in the not-too-distant future
ANUMBER of significant landmarks could be reached in Welsh rugby in the months ahead, including the possibility of Alun Wyn Jones setting a world record and Dan Biggar rewriting the Guinness PRO12 record books.
MARK ORDERS assesses which players might have special cause for celebration in season 2017-18. 1. Dan Biggar becoming the Guinness PRO12’s all-time top scorer There’s nothing guaranteed.
Heading into the season on 1471 points, Biggar needs 112 to hoist his tally past Dan Parks’s league best of 1582. It may not sound much to a man of Biggar’s deadly accuracy with the boot — heck, this is a bloke who once amassed more than 700 league points over three seasons in the league — but the times they have been a changin’ for the Ospreys fly-half.
Last season, on a dual contract and with Sam Davies also on hand as a goal-kicker, he managed just 58 points in the PRO12.
The previous term he supplied 78. There is also the point that he looks set to leave for Northampton at the end of the season, so there are no guarantees that tight selection calls will go in his favour.
The other side of the coin is that Biggar remains a top-quality marksman who is capable of racing to a points century before Bonfire Night is done and dusted, as he did in season 2011-12, a year when he compiled a mountainous 329 in all competitions. Verdict: It is going to be tight, especially with Wales vying for Biggar’s attention. Throw in a late start to the season and the challenge he faces is a big one. He will need to take every chance that comes his way. Maybe with enough opportunities he will get there. Just. 2. Jamie Roberts completing 100 caps for Wales So much depends on Warren Gatland’s thinking.
The 93-cap Roberts has been one of the Kiwi’s favourites over the years. Indeed, some would argue he, more than any other player, has symbolised the way Wales have played for much of the time since 2008, with power and muscularity, perhaps at the expense of great subtlety.
Last season he found himself benched at Test level for the first time in seven years, and he spent the entire Six Nations as a replacement.
He is 31 in November and all good things come to an end, but he did an outstanding job as Wales captain at the head of a young side this summer.
Robin McBryde will doubtless submit a positive report of Roberts’s efforts to Gatland.
If ever someone deserved to reach his century it is the big man, who has made so many hard yards for his country.
Gatland isn’t given to sentiment and nor should he be, but it would take a hard heart not to want Roberts to win the seven more caps he needs to make it over the line. Verdict: Scott Williams and Jonathan Davies were Rob Howley’s front-line centres last term and the probablity is the Scarlets pairing will remain the favoured duo as Wales try to expand their game. If Roberts is to reach his 100 it may have to be as a replacement, picking up caps here and there. Nothing is certain, then, but he may just make it. 3. Alun Wyn Jones setting a Test appearance world record for a second row He needs to figure in nine more Tests to overtake Victor Matfield as the most-capped lock of all time.
It is unlikely that Jones will play in all four of Wales’s autumn series matches — everyone tends to get a weekend off in November, except hard-pressed scribes (cue the small violin) — and so even if he does feature in every round of Six Nations matches the probability is he will still not quite be there.
There is a tour of Argentina scheduled for next summer and if he goes on that he may erase Matfield’s name for the record books. Verdict: Jones will surely break big Victor’s record of 127 caps, but it will be touch and go whether he does it in 2017-18. 4. Gethin Jenkins becoming the most-capped European player in history On 134 caps, including five for the Lions, Jenkins needs eight more to pass Brian O’Driscoll’s mark of 141.
All known laws of ageing and rugby selection suggest the Cardiff Blues legend will be pushed to get there.
Rob Evans had a fine campaign for Wales in 2016-17 and Nicky Smith also made significant strides, while Wyn Jones is the next cab off the ranks.
A peak-era Jenkins, with his extraordinary engine, skill at the breakdown and ability to reduce opposition ball carriers to dusty rubble, would still be out on his own.
But time waits for no man. That said, injuries happen and Jenkins defied the odds to re-establish himself as Wales’s first choice loose-head for a time in 2016, starting in five out of six Tests. Verdict: Don’t bet the farm on this one, but if anyone is capable of defying logic it is Jenkins. 5. Rhys Webb overhauling Shane Williams as the Ospreys’ leading try scorer of all time in the PRO12 Williams is fully 20 touchdowns ahead of anyone in the Ospreys’ try-scoring chart in all competitions, with 57.
But in the league Webb is close to reeling him in.
The scrum-half needs four more maximums to go beyond Williams’s mark of 30.
He managed 13 in the league in 2014-15 but just two last season, as defences became wise to his attacking wiles.
He will start the campaign late after his commitments with the Lions, but he will have a fresh tank of confidence and is still very much on top of his game. Verdict: Expect Webb to bag this one. 6. Ken Owens climbing to the top of the pile as Wales’s most-capped hooker The figures suggest this one is unlikely in the months ahead. Owens has 50 Wales caps, meaning he needs 11 more to overhaul Matthew Rees as Wales’s most-capped No. 2.
There are four autumn series games to be played and five Six Nations Tests, plus a probable couple on Wales’s summer tour.
It would take a lot for Owens to feature in every match. Verdict: The odds are against this season. 7. Alex Cuthbert reaching his half-century of caps It is hard to imagine any Welsh player has been more maligned than Alex Cuthbert.
He has taken a fearful kicking on social media and the mainstream press haven’t exactly applauded his every