Warren Peace

 The cold snap put an end to my plan to watch Pontypool play Narberth. The game was called off early due to a frozen pitch. Indeed, the fixture list of the community game was decimated. That meant it was couch time.

The big news in Welsh rugby was the sacking of Wayne Pivac and the return of Warren Gatland. I suspect there will be more of a spring in the step of potential Welsh internationals as they attempt to impress the new gaffer in the short time available before the Six Nations squad is put together. Early promising signs came in the Dragons creditable draw with the Lions in South Africa and Cardiff’s thumping of Brive.

I wonder what will happen to Gatland’s Law? It is worth considering how many players have benefited from playing in England. The entire probable Welsh first choice back line has done a stint across the border:

Liam Williams, Louis Rees-Zammit, George North, Nick Tompkins, Josh Adams, and Dan Biggar. You could also add Rhys Webb (time in France) or Aled Davies at scrum half. Then there are Alex Cuthbert, Callum Sheedy and Ioan Lloyd to name but a few others. In the pack you can think of Faletau, Rowlands, Francis, Moriarty, Reffell, Young, Carre etc. The list goes on. With tongue in cheek, you could almost a suggest a spell away from Wales should be a requirement in player development.

The other news is that the WRU are actually talking turkey with the “regions” again. Will peace break out? An uneasy truce is the best we can hope for maybe. There is a vast amount of mostly empty talk about governance, structures and pathways which sounds like it comes straight out of a business management textbook. I know I should be more interested in the pontifications and ramifications but it leaves me cold. Four top-line competitive professional clubs in Wales does seem to be a big ask however. I also wonder if I were a young lad would I rather play every week for my local team with my mates or be part of an academy where playing opportunities are limited. I firmly believe that any pyramid structure needs risks and rewards to be vibrant and that ringfencing does stifle ambition.

As I have said before, being a simple soul, all I want to do is to watch my local team play on a Saturday afternoon – home and away if possible. I am still emotionally attached to watching Wales in the flesh but the attraction is waning with my advancing years, the spiralling costs and the amount of loutish behaviour amongst the “fans”. At the moment I really do not have any desire to watch my "region" play other than on the TV instead of Strictly Come Dancing or something similar.

So, it’s back to Pontypool for me. Weather permitting Pooler are due to play at Beddau next weekend.

Welcome back and good luck Warren.

Come on Pooler!