Clowns, lions and a Byrne blast... our A-Z of rugby 2017’s big talking points
It’s that time of the year when we reflect on the 12 months gone and what potentially lies in store for 2018.
And it’s no different in rugby and we give our A-Z of the game in 2017... Who would have thought a lion in a Bloemfontein game park would provide the most bizarre Welsh rugby story of the year.
But she did when taking a liking to Scott Baldwin’s hand when the Wales and Ospreys hooker tried to pet her.
Baldwin underwent four operations on the wound amid fears he could have lost his hand. BYRNE IDENTITY If there was one rugby book to buy in 2017 it was the tome of former Wales and Lions full-back Lee Byrne.
As explosive as any fireworks you’ll see in the night skies on New Year’s Eve, it included tales of drinking with Gavin Henson and Jerry Collins and his fractious relationship with Welsh attack coach Rob Howley. CLOWNS We thought we’d seen the last of Wales coach Warren Gatland mocked up as a clown by a leading New Zealand newspaper in late 2016.
But it was to make a reappearance in the summer when the Wales and Lions coach accused the All Blacks of targeting scrum-half Conor Murray with late tackles.
But Gatland was to have the last laugh following the drawn series turning up in the post-match third Test press conference wearing a shiny red nose. DRAGONS Since the WRU takeover last summer, the Rodney Parade region have been barely out of the news with some big-hitting signings in Gloucester duo Ross Moriarty and Richard Hibbard arriving in 2018. Welsh hearts were shattered back in February with a late try from Elliot Daly snatching an unlikely Red Rose victory, in Cardiff, and stretching their winning run to 16 matches.
Liam Williams’ try and 11 points from the boot of Leigh Halfpenny had looked to be enough to seal a warranted Wales win, until Daly latched onto a sumptuous Owen Farrell pass to cross in the corner. FRENCH FARCE A farce usually has a comedy element to it but there were few smiles on Welsh faces at the end of their 100-minute clash with Les Bleus in the 2017 Six Nations Championship finale.
The events that unfolded in Paris, that gave us 20 added on minutes and saw Wales lose 20-18, could well be given it’s very own A-Z section. GEOGRAPHY SIX Rugby fans could be mistaken for checking it wasn’t April 1 when back in June, the Lions announced Welsh quartet Kristian Dacey, Gareth Davies, Cory Hill and Tomas Francis alongside Scottish duo Allan Dell and Finn Russell would supplement the touring party in New Zealand.
It caused plenty of raised eyebrows and criticism for the Lions management. HENSON There were few returns to Welsh rugby in 2017 that generated more column inches than Gav’s signing for the Dragons in March. The 35-yearold double Grand Slam winner joined the Men of Gwent in the summer insisting he still had “loads to offer” and has pretty much lived up to expectations despite a poor performance in the Boxing Day derby defeat to the Blues. IRISH UPROAR No year is complete without a bit of controversy across the Irish Sea and it all kicked off in March on the eve of Wales v Ireland in the Six Nations Championship when notorious rugby pundit Neil Francis labelled prop Tomas Francis ‘a crap player’, lock Jake Ball ‘a very average ‘second-row’ and No.8 Ross Moriarty ‘no sure-fire cert to get over the gain-line’ in a withering attack on Wales.
And he added very few of the current Welsh squad will be part of Warren Gatland’s Lions set-up in New Zealand. JACKMAN You sense the appointment of the former Connacht and Leinster hooker Bernard to take over from Kingsley Jones as head coach of the Dragons didn’t meet with widespread approval with fans at the Gwent region.
But what an addition to the Welsh game the 41-year-old has been.
He’s as good on social media as any of his players and a generally great guy to boot. KICKS Success from the kicking tee can seal tight games while missed punts to touch from hand can often prove costly. And that’s what happened to Wales when Jonathan Davies’ failure to belt the ball into row Z against England saw the Red Rose run it straight back and finish the game as victors courtesy of Elliot Daly’s try.
Davies couldn’t be faulted as he shouldn’t have been the man assigned to hoof the ball out in the first place. LIONS There was only one game (well three to be precise) in town over the summer and that was the Lions’ riveting Test series with the back-toback world champion All Blacks.
It may have ended in deflating drawn series but what a contest and rollercoaster ride Warren Gatland’s side gave us along the way. MIKE PHILLIPS When the Lions and Wales scrum-half announced in the summer of 2017 he was retiring from the game while swimming with Sale Sharks you sensed the boots weren’t about to be consigned to the dustbin.
He may have spent the summer getting married, hanging out with P Diddy and playing a DJ set at the Royal Welsh Show, but in November came the news the 35-year-old would come out of retirement to answer an SOS call from the Scarlets for their two Guinness PRO14 matches in South Africa. NAVIDI The Blues back-rower was said to be too small for international rugby, hence the tiny number of caps the 26-year-old had accrued since a debut in Japan in 2013.
But he’s more than silenced his critics by being one of Wales’ star performers in the autumn internationals showing he can more than slug it out with the big boys.
It suggests there’s far more Test caps on the horizon than the seven he has to date. OSPREYS They were the standard bearers of the regional game in Wales being four-time winners of the Celtic League/PRO12 while also being Anglo-Welsh Cup champions in 2008 and runners-up the previous season.
But how the once mighty Ospreys have come crashing to earth with a miserable run in the Guinness PRO14. PRINCIPALITY PREMIERSHIP Perhaps only in Welsh rugby can a club be 41 points clear of the basement boys one week and then find themselves seven points in front the next.
But that’s the crazy revamp of the Premiership for you.
Merthyr were top of the East Division on 55 points and Bargoed bottom on 14 but now results in the first half of the season are expunged and the Ironmen now kick off the second half of the campaign on eight points for being top while Bargoed have one for finishing bottom.
It’s the same in the West with RGC on eight after ending on 52 points while Neath have one after wrapping up their division on 16. QUEUES More specifically the uproar outside the Principality Stadium before Wales’ autumn opener with Australia. Some fans described the queues for the game against the Wallabies as an “utter shambles”. Thousands missed kick off because of huge queues to get into the stadium.
Supporters were left standing in the rain outside several gates as a result of the enhanced security checks because of the unprecedented terror threat in the UK.
Some fans claimed they felt more at risk standing outside the stadium than sitting in it.