Wales look like missing out again
AS Wales ‘wails over the embarrassing state of its national sport’, a club coach raises an issue of piercing perception: “Is the pull of the Welsh jersey as strong as it used to be? That’s the question.’’ Chris James, contact-area coach of Cross Keys and regional age-grade coach of Cardiff, doesn’t hesitate to give an answer, one that makes this Six Nations whitewash more alarming than the last one a generation ago.
“No,” he says. “Sad to say, it’s not.” For a Welshman ‘proud and passionate’ of his country and his birth into a Welsh-speaking family from Fishguard, the question could not possibly be of greater personal relevance to any of his compatriots, however proud and passionate, than it is right now for Chris James.
Why? Because his teenaged son, Kane, is the latest example of a Welsh player blazing a winning trail for England, in his case as a member of the Red Roses’ unbeaten run to the Six Nations U20’s title.
That Exeter have wasted no time rewarding him with a four-year contract says everything about the potential of a multi-purpose back row forward who turns 19 next week. He is not the first of the brightest and best of Wales’ youngest generation to be secured on long-term contracts by the Chiefs of the English Premiership.
Immanuel Feyi-Waboso led the way in spectacular fashion, illuminating Twickenham with his first start for England when they dared to ambush Ireland’s second successive Grand Slam a fortnight ago. The roads taken by ‘Manny’ and Kane bear a series of striking similarities.
They went to the same school, Corpus Christi in Cardiff. They learnt the game from an early age at two of the capital’s junior clubs, barely a mile apart in adjacent eastern districts.
Feyi-Waboso began at Rumney
RFC at the age of ten, James at St. Peter’s RFC from the age of seven. By a quirk of the fixture list, the neighbouring rivals collided yesterday with ‘The Rocks’ hosting the most local of local derbies.
While England’s latest wing left Cardiff to pursue his medical career at university, initially in Birmingham, then at Exeter, James won a scholarship to Sedbergh School in Cumbria, the alma mater of England Grand Slam captains Will Carling and his ennobled predecessor ‘Wakers’, alias Lord Wakefield of Kendal.
Newcastle Falcons wasted no time finding James, then 16, a place in their academy. Even then, he thought nothing of turning out for Sedbergh on a Friday and making the long haul back to Cardiff to play in a Welsh Youth Cup tie for St Peter’s the next day, what his father calls ‘keeping a foot in the door’.
Capped by Wales at U18 level, he switched to England this season after joining Exeter. Others, most notably Ross Moriarty, did the same without compromising their choice of nationality at senior level.
Like his father Paul and uncle Richard, Moriarty, junior, played Test rugby in familiar red. From a Welsh perspective, James’ move to Exeter already has an ominous look of permanence about it.
He will start a three-year degree course in business and finance at Exeter University this autumn, his fees paid for by Exeter Chiefs. His contract contains a clause which his father says stipulates that ‘if England want him, they have first dibs’.
When the Wales U20 management asked Exeter about picking James, alongside a trio of other St Peter’s boys (Nick Thomas, Harry Beddall and Lucas De La Rua) they were told that England had already claimed him. He is also eligible for New Zealand because his mother, Audrey, comes from Niue, a tiny island in the South Pacific.
“Kane is English-qualified because I was born in Bristol and that was only because my dad had worked for the MoD and he moved there with his job,” says Chris. “He is on a two-year development programme with the England U20s.
“He is fully embedded in their squad, loving life at Sandy Park and the club’s culture. There’s no doubt that it works well for him. He really has made great strides in a short time.
“I’m Welsh through and through, from a Welsh-speaking family. I’m proud to be a boy from Fishguard where there’s been a fair bit of Kane-mania in recent weeks.
“I played senior rugby for Swansea and Newbridge and I’m about to start a coaching session with Cross Keys as we speak. I’ll admit I found it difficult when Wales played England in the U20 Six Nations a few weeks back.
“There I was singing the Welsh national anthem with my son playing for England. However, when I saw how happy he was and how much he has developed as a player,
I felt very proud. He’s my son and has aspirations to play international rugby. Yes, I’d like to see him a Welsh shirt but if England is better for him, so be it. Kane is a very similar player to Ben Earl. He’s way off being that good but then he is only 18. We’ll see.’’
James, senior, managing director of IOS, a company supplying staff to schools and nurseries throughout the UK and beyond, acknowledges that Wales face an increasing problem over their best boys being offered scholarships to private schools across the border.
“Gruff Rees (Cardiff Academy manager) is doing a great job at the Arms Park but he’s only one man,” says James, senior. “There needs to be a lot more like him, a better scouting system and a far stronger connection between the regions and the under-age national squads.
“When it comes to innovative training, nutritional and psychological preparation, England at U20 level are way ahead.’’
There is nothing new, of course, in outstanding Welsh prospects going to elite public schools across the border. One of the earliest beneficiaries, Gareth Edwards, returned after two years at Millfield in perfect condition as an all-round athlete.
Times have changed. The pull of the Wales jersey was a lot stronger then than it is now.
“After Feyi-Waboso makes his mark, Kane James blazes a winning trail with England U20s”