Friday 16 December 2011

The Great Escape



There are an alarming number of players being linked with moves away from Wales in the wake of their World Cup campaign which could undo all the good work Warren Gatland has done since his reign began in 2007. Nobody could have thought the way in which the Welsh players went about their work would end up being detrimental to the national game, but at the moment, that’s exactly what’s on the verge of happening.

There was a time where players went to France to develop their game and to test and hone their skills in a different environment with the overall goal of enhancing themselves as test rugby players, a la Stephen Jones. These days are a thing of the past with the players moving abroad for two reasons, lifestyle and money. Unfortunately, French clubs have funds that stretch much further than the Welsh regions and there’s no way for them to compete.

Most rugby players have families to support and given the short nature of a professional rugby career, they’d be idiotic to turn the pay rise down. Adam Jones has been linked with a move to France when his contract expires in June and discussing Gethin Jenkins’ reported offer of a £500,000 salary, he revealed:

“If they have to do something that is financially right then they have to go…It is the world we live in. If the region is not going to offer you a new contract or the type of money on offer elsewhere, you might have to go.”
This seems to be exactly the case with the re-invented dragon, Luke Charteris. He’s announced that he will be leaving the Gwent region at the end of the season with Perpignan in prime position to snap up the giant 6’ft 9”in second row stating:
"The chance to live in a different country and enjoy a new culture and way of life is one not everybody gets.
A player's career doesn't last forever and I want to experience as much as I can."
With so many frontline players already playing in France and England, Warren Gatland’s foreign player policy is no longer. He can’t possibly dismiss anyone playing outside of Wales because he simply wouldn’t have the players to pick from. Whereas before, players moving to France would mean possible exile from the national set-up, this is no longer the case. Adam Jones and Gethin Jenkins are two of many players allegedly being offered big-money deals to play in the Top 14 or the Aviva Premiership. Jamie Roberts, Leigh Halfpenny, Rhys Priestland, George North, Scott Williams, Jon Davies and Aled Brew but to name a few have apparently been approached with big offers to lure them away from Wales.
If the majority of us were in their positions, we’d already be brushing up on our French because despite the game being the national sport of Wales, the elite domestic competition is failing miserably to capture the imagination of the public. All four Welsh regions have recorded all time low figures this season in the Celtic League and it’s becoming a genuine cause for concern. The Cardiff Blues have been especially outspoken, expressing their concern over the dwindling numbers:
· Scarlets – 7,243 (7 games)
· Blues – 6,723 (6 games)
· Ospreys – 6,528 (8 games)
· Dragons – 4,766 (4 games)

Regions are battling against themselves in many ways and this is acting as a deterrent to the Welsh players. They must be asking themselves what has happened to the 65,000 people that crammed into the Millennium Stadium at the break of dawn to watch their world cup semi final. From the highs of the word cup, the Welsh squad have returned to their regions and the accompanying bland, generic and empty stadia. Compare that to the partisan crowd that watched Clermont Auvergne beat Leicester at the weekend and is it any wonder that the Welsh elite are being drawn abroad?

With the regional game unable to draw the crowds despite every region boasting many internationals, it’s adding to their economic struggles. Even if we take a look over the bridge, you very rarely find a 25,000-seater stadium occupied by 6,000 shivering souls. These shortcomings are completely self-inflicted from the regions’ point of view. Ask any Cardiff Blues fan and they’ll tell you that the move to the Cardiff City Stadium has been a drastic flop. Why on earth they aren’t playing their home games at the vacant Arms Park is anyone’s guess. At least 6,000 people in there would create an atmosphere as opposed the cauldron of awkward silence that currently fills the new stadium. Those attendances would have more of a chance of rising if the matches were held at the heart of the capital. The atmosphere developed upon the arrival of Jonah Lomu to Cardiff in was meteoric and it saw attendances soar to upward of 20,000 packed into the old, traditional ground. It seems that the board think that bigger is better; it most certainly is not. If they were drawing the 44,000 people that watched the Blues lose to Leicester in the Heineken Cup penalty shoot-out in 2009, their perseverance with the Cardiff City Stadium becomes justifiable, but let’s face it, they’re nowhere near.

The Ospreys are in the same boat, struggling hugely to fill the Liberty Stadium. An LV Anglo-Welsh match was shifted to the Brewery Field with relative success. On a horrid Friday evening in front of the sky cameras, 6,662 came through the turnstiles of the 8,000 capacity ground when the Ospreys beat Leicester in front of the Sky Sports cameras. They proved that there’s a niche in the market, yet that’s the first and last time it’s happened? Their relationship with Neath Rugby has effectively evaporated, but if they were to re-establish that connection, The Gnoll would be another option open to them as well as The All Whites’ ground down the road at St Helens. Again, moving the fixtures to these alternative grounds would at least create an atmosphere and this could possibly increase the numbers.

The Dragons’ new stand has failed to spark an interest in Gwent despite landing deals with Toby Faletau and Dan Lydiate to keep them at the region. Their problem has always been not having the superstars to bring in the numbers, that isn’t true any more. The Scarlets’ new stadium was doomed to fail before it even began to be built with so many supporters opposing to the move. This has been the catalyst for so many empty seats at the ‘home of heart & soul rugby country’. For them and the Dragons, they have their hands tied because there’s no other significant sports ground in the area. The Scarlets should play some games in North Wales given that it’s in their region and the fact that it’s produced a certain 6’ft 4”in winger.

An area that isn’t being explored is the heartbeat of Welsh rugby. Since the collapse of the Celtic Warriors in 2003, the valleys have been without first grade rugby. Sardis Road could be the perfect tonic both for the area of Pontypridd and any region brave enough to take the gamble.

With the regional game in its current state, more and more players will opt for the glamour of French rugby. Rugby Union is Wales’ biggest marketing tool bar none and the national team is the pinnacle in advertising power. Without these players, there is nothing. Therefore, the WRU and the Welsh Assembly Government need to urgently come up with a plan to keep players in Wales. The money on offer abroad is obscene in comparison to their current wages. The only foreseeable solution is for a top-up system where the regions pay half of the players’ wages and the rest made up from the WRU and governmental budget, equalling the money they’d be getting abroad and hopefully stifling the player’s potential move.

It’s a very complicated issue, but it if the Welsh game is to continue developing, the players need to be playing in Wales and be available for national duty as and when Warren Gatland sees fit or the good work he’s done thus far in his tenure could be nil and void. WRU, over to you.

Thursday 8 December 2011

Shane's Swansong



It turned out to be what everyone expected. It was a non-event as far as rugby was concerned but a fitting finale to a Welsh rugby great. A stagnant first half finally came to an end with the home team leading 6-3 after Rhys Priestland and James O’Connor had traded penalties. The game ambled its way to the turning point which was the unfortunate sin-binning of Leigh Halfpenny. From where Jonathan Kaplan was standing it was an undoubted penalty and given that James O’Connor would have inevitably slid in for the try had he not been hauled down, the sanction had to be a yellow card.

While the fullback was sat on the naughty step, he watched his side yield 21 unanswered points as Will Genia, Lachie Turner and Berrick Barnes all crossed for tries that were converted by James O’Connor. Rhys Priestland then answered back for Wales with a smart finish only to see his conversion attempt rebound back off the upright. With Wales trailing 11-24 going into the last play, the game was over but there was still time for Shane Williams to sign off with a trademark finish as he slipped the tackle of Berrick Barnes to race in for his 60th test try (58 for Wales, 2 for the Lions) to send the 69,537 crowd and Jed Thian’s rugby universe into a state of delirium.

The game struggled to spark into life with the error-strewn first half dominated by the sound of the abrupt whistle of the South African referee. No team was able to put any significant phases of play together and although Wales held a 6-point advantage for the majority of the half, they were never in control. The scrappiness of the match was emphasised by the amount of kicks in open play. Wales kicked away possession 33 times to Australia’s 27. We saw the return of the dreaded aerial ping-pong that marred the game prior to the new breakdown interpretation last season. The Wallabies were penalised countless times for breakdown infringements early in the game which added to the stop-start nature of the contest. Had these illegalities happened in the last 10 minutes of the game Kaplan would have almost certainly reached for his pocket, but his tolerance was frustratingly generous for the viewing public who wanted to see a flowing game. Add to this the constant handling errors from both teams and an eternity spent crouching, touching, pausing and engaging and you have a pretty dire test match.

Although the Shane Williams fairytale moment put a gloss on the performance, there’s a well known adage about polish and excrement that must be remembered.

With the 6 Nations fast approaching, it was a chance for the maybe men of Welsh rugby to put their hands up. Only Ian Evans stood up to the test. Injury and poor form had resulted in a three year international rugby exodus for the Osprey and it showed. He was a rare banker at the lineout with 4 takes and made 6 effective carries and 9 tackles in the loose. Another who stood out was Toby Faletau who was the top carrier of with 14 beating 3 defenders on the way as well as a 13-tackle defensive shift. Ryan Jones replaced Ian Evans in the second row and was on laughable form once more with 5 carries amassing an incredible 6 metres, an incredible feat for the 6ft 5in, 18st man. Another who flopped was Lloyd Williams. Although he was playing behind an inferior pack of forwards, the skills that got him into the team let him down. He was painfully slow at the back of the ruck and his basic handling on the whole was poor. Something he has to pick up quickly if he wants to oust Richie Rees from his starting berth down at the Cardiff City Stadium is that starting a game at number 9 is a very different assignment than coming off the bench.

The same old problem reared its ugly head for Wales, the set piece. This brings more pressure on the already under fire Robin McBryde, the only clunky cog in the Wales coaching machine. Following the RFU fallout, Graham Rowntree has been strongly linked with McBryde’s position as forwards coach which expires. Rowntree was one of the very few individuals representing England to come back from New Zealand with his reputation still intact. His work with the Lions in South Africa during the 2009 tour brought him rave reviews, stark contrast to Wales’ set piece statistics. On Saturday, they lost a third of their scrums against the head whilst their opposition took 100% of their own ball. The line-out wasn’t much better with the home side’s 78% success rate missing out to the visitors’ 81%.

The upsetting thing is; the front row that dismantled the Wales scrum offered very little outside the set piece. The Welsh front rowers carried the ball 10 times and made 26 tackles between them whilst their Australian counterparts managed 6 carries and 10 tackles.

Player
Carries
Tackles
Gethin Jenkins
3
6
Huw Bennett
4
8
Scott Andrews
3
12
James Slipper
0
5
Tatafu Polota-Nau
4
2
Salesi Ma’afu
3
2

This just shows that the endeavour is there by the players, it’s a simple case of technique. Granted, Wales were without their boulder-like corner stone in Adam Jones and the specialist scrummager Paul James, but this isn’t the first time that Wales have been beaten in the battle of the set piece. The backline were without Mike Phillips, Jon Davies, Lee Byrne and James Hook, but they coped. Given the nature of the match and the amount of restarts witnessed because of errors, the set piece had a huge bearing on the outcome. Leigh Halfpenny’s yellow card resulted from a wide backs move that was made possible by Australia demolishing the Welsh scrum and taking the back row out of the game.

Let us not forget that no more than a couple of years ago, Wales pulverised the same Australian scrum at the millennium stadium and the Wallabies were renowned around the world for being a team who could not and did not want to scrummage. Jim Williams and Robbie Deans have turned that around in a matter of months, Wales have been static in this department for a matter of years. It’s paramount that this area is addressed before the 6 Nations to propel the team forward as they look to continue their form from the World Cup.

The game and the outcome itself isn’t important, but it was a chance for Warren Gatland to assess his options ahead of picking his squad to take on the Northern Hemisphere. One man’s services he won’t be able to call upon are those of Shane Williams. The match was dubbed Shane Williams’ farewell and it was one facet of the game that lived up to its expectation. It may have taken 80 minutes, but it was what we’ve come to expect from the flyer from The Amman. The first 80 minutes were frustrating for him as he tried his utmost to make an impact on the game. It seemed the more he tried to unlock the golden wall, the more worse it got for him. Uncharacteristically, he made a big impact in defence with 2 of his 4 tackles being try-savers on Turner and Barnes. That was until the last of his 7 runs in a Welsh shirt carried him over the line for his final 5-pointer. He’ll be sorely missed by his adoring fans and it’s been an honour to watch him light up the international stage. The once-in-a-lifetime, half-pint sized winger leaves behind him a legacy that he can be extremely proud to look back on. His shirt read at the home of Welsh rugby; Diolch. Diolch yn fawr, Shane.