Time just isn’t there for Gatland to reinvent the wheel now, says Ring
WARREN Gatland does not have the players capable of affecting significant change to the way Wales play in the run-up to the 2019 World Cup, writes Delme Parfitt.
That’s the view of Mark Ring, who wore the 10 and 12 jerseys for Wales in the Eighties and Nineties and is still remembered for the maverick skill and creativity he brought to both roles.
Gatland has admitted Wales need to embrace a different way of playing to the direct physical style that brought them some success in the past.
And he has backed that up by selecting the likes of Scarlets Kiwi centre Hadleigh Parkes, Ospreys rising star Owen Watkin, Gloucester’s Owen Williams and in-form Scarlets man Rhys Patchell.
With Rhys Priestland experiencing something of a second coming at fly-half with Bath, the pairing at in positions referred to in the southern hemisphere as first and second five-eighth provides the intrigue this November.
But Ring believes Gatland still does not have the personnel he needs, and that the blame lies further down the coaching pathway.
“If you push me on who should play at 10 and 12, I’d struggle to categorically give you two names,” said Ring.
“To me, they are all much of a muchness. I have always rated Rhys Priestland higher than Dan Biggar, so at No.10 he would probably be in my side.
“Biggar doesn’t pass the ball as well, he’s all shoulders, and his tactic of kicking high and chasing just doesn’t work like it used to because of the way teams deploy defenders to run across the line and force the chaser to zig-zag.
“I’d also be thinking about Patchell. He is intelligent and a talker on the field and has come on well under the guidance of Stephen Jones at the Scarlets.
“Stephen will have worked with him on accuracy, the timing of runs, when to hold onto the ball etc etc.
“But those are things that Wales won’t have time to work on and which should really be ingrained from a young age.”
And for Ring, that’s the rub in terms of Wales evolving a style.
He believes Gatland, in the time he has left, cannot possibly ‘reinvent the wheel’ with Wales.
Ring says it could take some years before all-court players capable of bringing the requisite quality to the 10 and 12 positions start to come through – and then only if enough focus is placed on how they are developed at an earlier age.
“The 7-11 age-group is the vital one,” Ring insisted.
“If players come out the other side of that and still don’t have the skill, the vision and the spatial awareness then I don’t think they are ever likely to develop it.
“That’s why New Zealand steal a march because they have that agegroup sorted and subsequently players who are good enough pitch up for the All Blacks ready to simply be honed rather than developed into something they have never been.
“In terms of 10 and 12 play people harp on a lot about ‘scanning’, and then players think all they have to do is bob their head up and down and look for a gap in the opoosition defence.
“But we need to replace the word ‘scanning’ with ‘counting’. Players have to learn to count numbers in opposition defences, then look left and right over their shoulders and count where the numbers are in their own team before making decisions.
“Like I said, these things need to be ingrained from a young age, otherwise players just become too structured in everything they do.
“That’s the way the game has gone, particularly in Wales.
“It’s going to take a lot of time for it to change.”