LIAM LINKED TO FAR EAST MOVE
FLYING FINN: RUSSELL STEALS THE SHOW AS WALES ARE HUMBLED ONCE AGAIN:
BIG-SPENDING clubs in Japan are ready to move for Wales full-back Liam Williams. The 31-year-old is the latest highprofile player to be linked with a departure from Welsh rugby at the end of the season.
Williams is under contract at Cardiff but it won’t stop clubs in the Far East from making a move for the 83-cap international and the Western Mail understands Kubota Spears are considering putting together a deal worth £500,000 a season to land the Lions star.
There has been a lot of uncertainty in Welsh rugby this season with the Professional Rugby Board putting a freeze on the four regions offering players contracts.
Wages are also set to drop significantly over the next couple of years in a bid to make the Welsh game more sustainable financially, with a salary cap expected to be introduced. Once the new deal between the WRU and the four regions is completed, the highest salary in Wales will total £280,000 a season.
While there are fewer opportunities overseas than there were previously due to quotas on foreign players, clubs in France and Japan can still comfortably outbid anything in Wales.
The financial situation at Wales’ four regions is dire and the teams will have to trim down their squads over the next year. This will inevitably mean a lot of top players having the chance to pursue lucrative contracts in France or Japan.
It is unclear whether Williams would be interested in moving to the Far East, but the situation in Wales has put Japanese and French clubs on red alert.
Kubota Spears are one of the wealthiest clubs in world rugby and have South Africa’s World Cup-winning hooker Malcolm Marx on their books, along with former New Zealand centre Ryan Crotty.
Even though Wales are struggling badly at Test level, their top players are still seen as attractive propositions for clubs overseas.
Williams has had a troubled start to the Six Nations, picking up yellow cards in the defeats to Scotland and Ireland, but he remains a key part of the Wales squad.
Wales lock Will Rowlands has already signed for French giants Racing 92, while Ross Moriarty, Dillon Lewis, Nicky Smith and Josh Adams are also attracting significant interest.
“ENJOY the view, boys, because most of you aren’t going to see this again at the Welsh Rugby Union’s expense.” So said a Welsh selector as visiting players feasted their eyes on the Forth Bridge a day after a defeat against Scotland more than a hundred years ago.
Wales had been expected to win but didn’t. On Saturday in Edinburgh few expected them to win and they duly matched down to those expectations. But, still, the 35-7 setback was some beating, the heaviest losing margin for Wales in the 140 years since they started playing against the Scots.
Were Wayne Pivac still head coach there would be marches through the streets demanding he be removed, but there appears to be acceptance that Warren Gatland has inherited a heck of a mess and it is going to take time to sort out.
How has it reached this point? Why are Wales having to microwave the development of so many young players?
Just four in the starting line-up on Saturday were aged between 24 and 29. Scotland’s run-on side had 10 players in that age bracket.
You wonder what happened to the Welsh supply chain for those years?
The good news is there are some bright prospects emerging in the likes of Dafydd Jenkins, Christ Tshiunza, Jac Morgan, Joe Hawkins and Tommy Reffell, but are they coming through despite the system not because of it, with three of those based in England, anyway?
Whatever, after a miserable Scottish weekend for Welsh rugby, here are the winners and losers.
WINNERS TWO EXETER CHIEFS
How hard is it for a 20-year-old second row to step into Test rugby these days? Gareth Llewellyn did it way back in 1989.
But the former Wales captain said recently: “It’s far more difficult for a young lock now.”
Give credit to Dafydd Jenkins, then, for holding his own on his first Wales start.
The same age as Llewellyn when the ex-Neath player made his Test bow, he featured in a pack that contained four players who were 23 or under but he gave it a real crack, making a good tally of metres with his carrying and returning a clean defensive sheet according to the first draft of official statistics: eight tackles attempted, every one nailed.
He also showed up in the closequarter exchanges.
For one so young, his performance offers Wales hope for the future.
The same needs to be said about his Exeter Chiefs club-mate Christ Tshiunza.
He grew into the game and in the final 15 minutes was still powering forward, with Scotland sometimes needing two or three men to bring him down. He was also Wales’ main line-out target and caused the hosts problems on their ball, nicking one and disrupting another.
It’s not easy from a Welsh perspective to be positive after a dismal team performance.
But the two Devon-based players can be content with their efforts.
OTHER YOUNG WELSH PLAYERS
No cause for a flypast maybe, but Tommy Reffell and Jac Morgan grafted tirelessly in the back row.
The initial stats had openside Reffell down as the top Welsh tackler (16) with Morgan next on the list. The pair were also on the scene for possession steals, and did what they could to carry.
Wales actually competed reasonably well at forward, securing a 50 per cent supply of possession, which reflected well on their young forwards. The problem was they had no idea how to use it behind.
Joe Hawkins wasn’t the worst back – it was a crowded field for that particular title – and brightened his display with a nice pass out wide to Liam Williams at one point and a couple of turnovers. If there weren’t as many pluses as there had been a week earlier, he still had the occasional positive moment.
FINN RUSSELL
To think he wasn’t playing that well early on. But then a switch appeared to be flicked.
That is Russell.
Magic started to flow on demand. There was an offload out of the tackle that might have come with a puff of smoke, then two clever crosskicks that set up tries, while Wales struggled to do even the basics well behind, never mind the conjuring.
By the end the Scotland No. 10 was David Blaine, Derren Brown, David Copperfield and Dynamo rolled into one. It was too much for the visitors.
And here’s the thing about Russell. He isn’t just a player who can defeat opposition teams with the sheer range and quality of his skills. He is also an entertainer who plays with a smile on his face.
There is no other player in European rugby who is more enjoyable to watch.
LOSERS WARREN GATLAND
As touched on above, Gatland was left a mountain of problems as Wales team boss. He needs time to put things right because rebuilds tend not to be overnight affairs and Wales are certainly rebuilding.
Even so, the challenge is to try to field a competitive team while the reconstruction work is carried out.
Gatland will be hurting because he is a winner and defeats on this scale will not sit easily.
He could have helped himself by including the likes of Morgan Morris – the most clinical finisher from close-range chances in Welsh rugby – and maybe Ross Moriarty in his squad for the tournament, and certainly Nicky Smith.
But, really, the problems on Saturday were not so much at forward, instead related to discipline and issues behind the scrum, where Wales were as predictable as a kilt on Princes Street.
Maybe we can even say Wales’ difficulties are that deep-rooted it’s unlikely two or three different selections would have changed much.
Gatland’s immediate issue is to decide who to pick for the England game on Saturday week. Beyond that, he has to find some sort of balance in his squad.
It won’t be easy.
THE WELSH BACKS
Maybe the class and flair of the Scottish backs, embodied in Finn Russell but not exclusively confined to the No. 10, magnified the poverty of Welsh back play.
But the visitors were poor by any standard, easy to read and not hard to defend against. Where was the imagination and creativity? Too many players were waiting for others to do something and there was a lack of craft.
Half-backs Tomos Williams and Dan Biggar could not trigger those outside them, with Ben White and Russell outplaying the Welsh duo, while the three-quarters were predictable and Liam Williams’ game hit more than the odd bump after a bright start, with another yellow card not helping.
George North? He still runs hard and straight but sides are ready for what he offers and Wales have to find a way of creating space for him and their wings. Rio Dyer can beat people but is a work in progress when it comes to composure and Josh Adams is a better player when he plays for Cardiff.
Louis Rees-Zammit’s probable return for the England game will give Wales blinding speed.
But will they be able to make the most of his talents. On Saturday’s evidence, that’s far from certain.
BIGGAR’S PUBLIC DRESSING DOWN
It’s a bit late to imagine Dan Biggar will change as a rugby player. He is fiercely driven and someone who wants to win so much it must hurt.
Throughout his career, he has played on the edge, so it was no real surprise when he opted to upbraid Rio Dyer after the youngster threw out a loose pass that put Biggar under pressure in Wales’ 22.
But was Biggar right to do so? Or would a quiet word later with the 23-year-old newcomer to Test rugby have been more in order?
Let’s cut to Arwel Thomas talking about the great Allan Bateman when they played together in the 1990s. “You might pass the ball a bit loosely and some centres would say: ‘That was a bit high, or that was a bit low,’” Thomas once recalled.
“Bateman would just catch it, beat his man and carry on. I remember I put in a kick that was charged down. Before I’d had time to think about it, Bateman was back there covering. He took on two players and rescued the day without any fuss.”
People have different temperaments and not everyone can be like Bateman.
But it’s debatable how much was gained from Biggar tearing a strip off a young player on the field as happened at Murrayfield.
Confidence can be a frail bubble. Especially for one as young as Dyer.
WELSH DISCIPLINE
Wales incurred the wrath of the referee 15 times against Ireland and most people felt that was shambolic.
It took some doing, then, to perform even worse on the discipline front. They gave away 17 penalties against the Scots. Indeed, Gatland
said the figure was actually 19, calling it “not acceptable” at Test level. No arguments there.
Liam Williams’ second yellow card in the tournament this term will concern the coach, with things hard enough for Wales without having to operate with reduced numbers.
Williams (2), George North (3), Tomos Williams (2), Tommy Reffell (2) and Rhys Webb (2) were among those giving away penalties, and all will know their discipline needs to improve.
Let’s just call that an understatement.
WELSH LINE-OUT
Maybe if we all returned in 3023, Wales would still be having problems with their line-out.
It sometimes feels like that. A thousand years sometimes doesn’t seem long enough to fix them.
It shouldn’t be that way. Whether it’s an issue with the hooker, the jumpers or the lifters, Wales’ coaches and players need to put it right because it’s costing them tries. Gatland will be frustrated. And he’ll know this can’t go on.
Wales have to be better.