Rugby Blues

The rugby season just seems to go on and on although for us Pooler fans it has been over for some time. It was very stop start but I did enjoy the paltry amount of rugby played. Once again congratulations to Bargoed for winning the Championship and we look forward to locking horns next season. From an overall a Welsh perspective though, things seem to go from bad to worse.

At international level Wales had a very poor 6 Nations which ended in the ignominy of a home defeat by Italy. They now face the daunting prospect of a summer tour to South Africa. I hear that Wayne Pivac & co have “lost the dressing room”. It is just as well that he has used up enough players to fill three dressing rooms then. The Welsh public certainly seem completely baffled by his selection policy where one minute a player is deemed world class only for a few days later to be discarded. A tour to the home of the current world champions does seem rather foolhardy at the moment. Only on Saturday evening I saw the potential Wales starting front five shunted back in the scrum while playing for the Ospreys against the Bulls. I can only hope that the Wales management team know what they are doing as it is not very obvious to this observer. There was little encouragement at under 20 level either where the team performed equally poorly.

At regional level it has been a very barren season for all the Welsh regions. They just don’t seem to be competitive any more despite the WRU “encouraging” most of the Welsh test players to play in Wales. On Friday there was a home defeat for the Ospreys by the Bulls coupled with a really embarrassing bollocking for Cardiff in Treviso. This was followed up by home defeats for the Scarlets and Dragons by South African opposition on Saturday. This means that none of the regions have finished in the top half of the URC table something that would be unheard of only a few years ago. “Not enough cash,” comes the bleat but this no excuse for poor attitude on the field.

So what are we going to do? Reducing the number of regions to three has of course come back on the agenda. As I have said in a previous post, in my experience (best part of 40 years in the steel industry) cutbacks only lead to more cutbacks and never to future growth. Without question it will reduce the number of players and spectators. Bringing back Welsh players playing outside Wales to Wales is hardly going to help as they turn out for their region infrequently while commanding a hefty wage.  There surely has to be a way of organising and marketing the game so that it better includes the whole swathes of Wales north of the M4 – how do the Irish manage it, how do they do it in New Zealand? I like to believe that the Welsh nation is still passionately interested in rugby but I fear that the love affair is waning fast. It is far easier to half watch the games on telly while playing with the i pad than to head off for an inconvenient journey for a late kick off to watch a disappointing outcome. The current cost of living pressures are hardly going to help the situation. Somehow we must make four regions/clubs work financially otherwise the game at pro level will shrivel on the vine.

The game at community level is also in disarray with the constant tinkering with the league structure. The season has been disrupted by Covid it is true but the number of unfulfilled fixtures for other reasons has become a worrying trend. I may be biased but I find that rugby at Premiership and Championship level has been competitive and most enjoyable to watch. While the skill levels are not the highest, there are no enormous egos and the players give their all and they do kick off at 2.30 on a Saturday afternoon for the most part. There is also the jeopardy of promotion and relegation (sometimes!) which adds interest. Again, there is talk of reducing the size of the Premiership to improve the standard – yet more negativity.

Can we please put the future of Welsh rugby in the hands of someone with a positive outlook who is likely to stay until things get better before it is too late. Wales is synonymous with rugby to the rest of the world yet we cannot seem to capitalise on the strength of our brand.