Ospreys give Gatland a welcome selection puzzle
IT was another eventful weekend in Welsh rugby, with the Ospreys earning an epic bonus-point win in South Africa, while the other three regions fell to defeat.
Plenty of talking points emerged from all four clashes, however, most notably the controversial circumstances that denied Cardiff an important victory against Ulster.
There was more disappointment for Wales in the Women’s Six Nations too, with another Wooden Spoon seemingly on the cards.
Here are this weekend’s winners and losers.
WINNERS Nicky Smith, Sam Parry and Rhys Henry
The Ospreys front row could well be the answer to Wales’ scrummaging woes.
Smith took apart double World Cup-winning Springbok Frans Malherbe as Toby Booth’s side defeated the Stormers in South Africa, with the Leicester Tigers-bound star adding the renowned scrummager to his ever-growing list of scalps at scrumtime.
Neither he nor the consistently impressive Parry, who barrelled over for his fifth league try of the season, were selected in Warren Gatland’s Six Nations squad, with the performance of the Welsh scrum raising eyebrows throughout the campaign.
Smith and Gareth Thomas are strong options at loosehead, while Parry could provide some important experience at hooker and both could feel hard done by if they are left out of the summer tour to Australia.
There is more of a question mark over whether Henry can meet the fitness demands of Test rugby at present, but with a lack of convincing tighthead options, Gatland could certainly do a lot worse than selecting him.
The 25-year-old was excellent again in South Africa.
Theo Cabango
Back in the starting line-up for Cardiff for the first time in five months, Cabango made up for lost time against Ulster as he crossed for two tries in an impressive display.
The 22-year-old sliced through the hosts’ defence to finish off a trainingground move inside the first quarter of an hour before searing past Jude Postlethwaite and Jacob Stockdale to seal a brace moments into the second half.
He would have capped his return with an impressive hat-trick had it not been for the intervention of Mike Adamson and his TMO, with his late score overturned in controversial circumstances as Ulster snatched victory at the death. excellent
Morris may have taken home yet another player-of-the-match award for the Ospreys, but Deaves was colossal against the Stormers.
Seemingly everywhere on the pitch, every second of the game, the flanker left absolutely nothing out there, pulling off a stunning covering tackle before crossing for a crucial try.
The uncapped 22-year-old gives everything with every opportunity he is given and with him, Jac Morgan and Justin Tipuric, the Ospreys have an almost embarrassing amount of riches at openside flanker. It may, sadly, not be much of a surprise to fans if neither he nor Morris get their Wales call-up this year, but it may certainly be a mistake on Gatland’s part.
It’s not the first time that Hathaway has made this list this season.
But the wing gave his finest performance yet for Gloucester as he crossed for a second-half hat-trick in their defeat to Saracens.
Given his chance to impress amid a raft of changes by George Skivington, Hathaway grasped it with both hands with his three tries leading the coach to describe him as “world class” with ball in hand.
Skivington later hinted that Gloucester had found their Louis Rees-Zammit replacement in the 20-year-old, explaining: “He’s a good kid, he works really hard, and his natural position probably is full-back, but we just found a space for him on the wing and he’s quick enough.
“He’ll get exposed at both over the next couple of seasons – we don’t want him to go to the NFL as well!”
Having played for Wales and England U20s, Hathaway’s international future is now set to be a talking point. With performances like these, Gatland will likely be keeping tabs on him.
LOSERS Welsh Rugby Union and Wales Women
The WRU are facing a second Six Nations disaster in the space of a month after Wales Women were thumped 40-0 by France to leave them favourites for the dreaded Wooden Spoon.
After the men suffered a first tournament whitewash since 2003, the situation is arguably even worse for the women’s side who have taken a huge step back from last year’s promising campaign.
Their narrow opening weekend loss to Scotland has been followed by heavy defeats to England, Ireland and now France, leaving them bottom of the table with a solitary losing bonus point to their name.
They must now record a convincing bonus-point win over Italy at the Principality Stadium this weekend if they are to avoid the Wooden Spoon.
Fingers have been pointed at players and coaches after Sunday’s nilling at the hands of Les Bleus.
But head coach Ioan Cunningham makes a fair point in arguing that his side – who turned professional in 2022 – “have still got L-plates on when it comes to professionalism” and calling on the WRU to deliver a Welsh domestic league.
“I think we’ve reached a point now where there is so much good talent coming through in Wales and we’ve got nowhere for them to play,” he said.
“That is something that we’ve got to seriously look at.
“Playing at under-20s level is brilliant, but then where do they play after that? The Celtic Challenge is only a short window and for us to get into that top five in the world we have got to have a domestic competition that provides high-quality rugby for our players.”
As Cunningham has acknowledged, such a move won’t happen overnight but something must happen soon if Wales are to avoid a repeat of this year’s disaster.
Taulupe Faletau list, but not by his own
On the losers’ doing.
Every Welsh rugby fan would have been gutted to see the No. 8s longawaited return end in crushing disappointment on Friday night, as he withdrew from Cardiff’s game against Ulster with injury after half-an-hour.
Faletau had spent six months on the sidelines after breaking his arm at the World Cup, with a further setback ruling him out of the Six Nations.
According to Cardiff head coach Matt Sherratt, he has been assessed for a shoulder knock but it is another major blow for the stalwart, who has given so much to Welsh rugby.
Scarlets
Looking for just their fourth league victory of the season, it was all looking promising for the Scarlets as they led mid-table Edinburgh at the hour mark.
However, it ended in familiar fashion as a collapse in the last 20 minutes saw the Scottish side score four tries and ease to a 43-18 victory.
Another hugely disappointing night for Dwayne Peel’s side.
Dragons
Dai Flanagan was furious after his side’s 36-19 defeat to Benetton – and rightly so.
In truth, his side were lucky to get away with such a scoreline, with the margin of the defeat sure to be far greater if the Italian side had managed to convert more of the many clear-cut chances they created.
The Dragons, who have not won on the road in the URC since April 2022, have had a miserable season and things are unlikely to get better anytime soon if they continue to show the lack of fight and execution they did in Treviso. Tries from Jared Rosser, Dane Blacker and Che Hope kept the scoreline reasonable.
But the reality is it was all too easy for the hosts.