GWYN JONES’ HARD-HITTING MESSAGE TO WELSH RUGBY
‘SOME OF GATLAND’S PLAYERS SHOULD GET OUT OF THE GYM AND REPLACE A DUMBBELL WITH A RUGBY BALL’ ‘JUDGEMENT DAY HAS TO BE A SPECTACLE, LET’S SEE SOME THRILLING RUGBY’
THIS season’s Judgement Day is a huge commercial success. A sell-out Principality Stadium is a remarkable achievement for the derby double-header when you consider that this is hardly an extraordinary year for Welsh rugby at any level, other than the Under-20s.
I have no interest or knowledge in the commercial or marketing world, but the collaborative work by the regions and the WRU has succeeded in making Judgement Day IV an event that reaches beyond the usual regional base and more akin to an international day crowd.
Since the end of the Six Nations, Judgement Day has been never far from our minds. Posters, media advertising and attractive ticket pricing have each created a buzz around the regional game.
I think that this achievement should be put in perspective. The Pro12 League is under pressure. Its quality is being questioned, especially as not one team was good enough to qualify for a Champions Cup quarter-final place.
Moreover, the Welsh regions are hardly pulling up trees in this struggling league by occupying the bottom half of the table with the Italian teams.
In these days of low spectator numbers any strategy that attracts 70,000 people to watch regional rugby in its current plight is nothing short of remarkable.
So given that the off-field suits have done their bit and filled the stadium, the pressure is on the regions to produce a spectacle of rugby that can hold the attention of 70,000 fans for four hours.
Some might say that this is an opportunity for a new audience to get a taste of regional rugby and whet their appetite for next season.
I don’t see it quite like that. I think regions have to make a conscious effort to go out to entertain. This needs to be a spectacle. People want to see modern athletes taking part in a dynamic sport with a positive mind-set on wanting to express themselves.
I admit there was a time some 10 years ago when, in order to thrill the public and generate income, the southern hemisphere Super Rugby lost its way and too many fundamentals of the game. Forward passes and knock-ons were ignored and scrums were de-powered as they offered a form of touch rugby instead of the real thing.
The Super Rugby league had lost its identity and the rugby was lightweight and irrelevant to the highpressure international game.
However, anyone who watches the Super Rugby tournament today sees a fantastic product of positive expressive high-tempo rugby.
It is thrilling and inspiring. It has enough ‘old school’ forward play to satisfy the old guard, but crucially it is unremittingly creative by the two sides in possession.
There are two reasons why this is something I feel strongly about right at this moment in time.
Firstly, we cannot ignore the type of rugby that dominated the 2015 World Cup. We are used to the southern hemisphere teams being better than us in terms of skills, execution and game management, but last year’s World Cup saw a chasm emerge in the fundamental approach to international rugby.
The southern hemisphere teams ran from deep, they went out to score tries and they played at a remarkable pace.
It was disappointing that Wales failed to heed these rather obvious lessons in the subsequent Six Nations, openly admitting their tactic against England in the deciding match was to slam it up the middle.
Wales were the heaviest team in the World Cup, in the backs and forwards. But finally it appears that Warren Gatland has admitted we need to get lighter to compete with this new emerging rugby in New Zealand this summer.
The ball-in-lay time is increasing, the number of tackles, passes and carries are rising. The only things that are getting fewer are scrums and lineouts.
Players are getting fitter, leaner and more aerobic in order to play a more agile and fluid game.
Some of our players need to get out of the gym. They need to replace a dumbbell with a rugby ball and worry more about their left-hand passing rather than their benching.
This applies to the coaches, too, and not just at senior level. Of course, our players need to be powerful and strong. Of course, it requires time spent conditioning.
Wales pride themselves on being the fittest and most conditioned side in the world but yet we are nowhere near being the best.
Our style of play looks tired and is of a different era. There is a new game being played that the Welsh regions must embrace.
Furthermore, this type of game should suit us. A faster and more intuitive game, using skill and vision, as much as brute force should help us in Wales.
It may be a challenge to some of our established players to bring a