Unwanted?There’s 2.5m play fourth autumnTest
superpowers – is just murderous.
One dreads to think what state some players will be in come the end of Saturday’s encounter with the bruising Springboks.
We already have a pretty horrendous casualty list after the first three matches.
I make it that no fewer than 12 of the original 36-man squad have picked up injuries along the way.
A couple of those have been really serious as well, with Lions star centre Jonathan Davies and lock Jake Ball facing lengthy lay-offs with foot and shoulder damage respectively.
Things have really come to a head this week, with the injury crisis particularly acute at prop forward.
The word is that Leon Brown and Rob Evans have both joined Samson Lee on the sick list.
So, with Tomas Francis back with Exeter, that means a start on the tight-head for the aforementioned Scott Andrews, who wasn’t even in the original party, while Rhodri Jones has been called up and is set to be involved in the 23.
With all the injuries and all the absentees due to club duty, Wales are missing close on 20 players for this weekend’s finale.
It’s stretching our resources close to breaking point and it just leaves you feeling this really is a game too many. IMPACT ON THE REGIONS This week, teams in England, Scotland and Ireland have all welcomed back players from international duty.
For those countries, the autumn Test campaign came to an end last Saturday.
But not so in Wales. Here the home-based players are in camp for another week and another match.
That inevitably has a big impact on our four regions.
They all have Guinness PRO14 matches this weekend and in some cases they will be up against teams who have been reinforced by returning star names.
It’s the Scarlets who are hardest hit this year, taking on the kind of burden which has often been heaped on the Ospreys in the past.
Wayne Pivac’s team are without no fewer than 15 players at present, which hardly makes life easy when you are facing two games on the road in South Africa.
With both Gareth Davies and Aled Davies away with Wales, they sent an SOS to Mike Phillips who has come out of retirement and will start against the Cheetahs on Saturday.
It really is a case of the regions going into this weekend’s games with one arm tied behind their backs and it doesn’t end there.
They head into Europe next week, which means they will have just a couple of days to assimilate their Wales players back into the mix and gel things together before one of the biggest matches of the season.
It really doesn’t make any sense from a player welfare point of view, especially as it’s key fixture after key fixture in the coming weeks, with barely a moment to take a breath.
And, of course, the regions suffer further through the players they will now be without for long periods as a result of injuries picked up on Test duty.
Now it’s true the regions agreed to the fourth autumn international continuing, via the RSA which they signed with the WRU a few years back.
But what is there for all to see is the toll it takes on them, both in the shorter and long-term. SO, IF THE FOURTH TEST CAUSES SO MANY PROBLEMS, WHY DO WE HAVE IT? Well, there are 2.5 million reasons! Now, of course, there have been some rugby benefits for Wales over the years.
Warren Gatland has often talked about the need to play the southern giants as often as possible. The idea being that to become the best, you’ve got to play the best – and frequently.
The fourth autumn Test has certainly facilitated that, with Wales facing at least two of the big three every year and all of them in some seasons, including this one. But it has also worked against Gatland’s gang at times.
It was losing the additional Test to Australia in 2012 that saw Wales drop down to ninth in the IRB rankings, consigning them to a place in the group of death, alongside hosts England and the Wallabies, at the 2015 World Cup.
And, obviously, there have been times – such as now – when the campaign has taken such a toll, that it becomes a brutally-hard fixture to fulfill.
I’ve seen people suggest we should have the less taxing game at the end of the series to lessen the impact.
But Tier Two nations like Georgia wouldn’t have their best players – most of whom are based on France – available for an out-of-window game.
And you have to work around the schedules of the big three, with this final weekend often the only one they have vacant.
So, this is the scenario we are continually faced by, with all the accompanying headaches and issues.
Why have it all then it if it causes such hassle? Well, I return to my original point.
Speaking to my WRU sources, it’s estimated that this weekend’s game against South Africa will bring in around £2.5m, with more than 65,000 tickets sold, not forgetting the revenue from TV and food and drink purchases inside the stadium.
Some people will argue it’s just greed on the part of the Union, as they look to rake in yet more cash.
But the reality is that money is sorely needed to help fund the domestic game in Wales. That’s why the fourth Test was introduced in the first place.
Without it, you would be left with a significant hole in the Union’s income stream.
Something would then have to give. You would either have to make cuts somewhere in terms of the money spent on the game at all levels or you would have to take on more debt for longer.
Neither option is particularly palateable. So, we are where we are.
As it stands, Wales only have three November internationals schduled for next year – with Australia, South Africa and a Tier 2 nation pencilled in.
It would be such a pleasant change if it stayed like that.
But, given the financial considerations, you wouldn’t be surprised if efforts were made to add a fourth fixture.
And, if so, I’ll probably be writing something very similar to this piece in a year’s time!