Wales legend Graham Price was a horrified observer as the autumn campaign finished in grim fashion
What was uppermost in my mind at the final whistle of Saturday’s defeat was that whoever thought it was a good idea to have arranged this game outside of the international window should have been made to play in it.
Richard Collier-Keywood says he was “embarrassed” by Wales’ 73-0 hammering. In my opinion he expressed the wrong emotion. The players who had just been on the wrong end of that performance were experiencing feelings of humiliation. These players are also the ones who will be worrying about whether or not they will have jobs at the end of the restructuring process that is clouding everything.
The WRU has pointed to the fixture being organised a long time ago and released a statement ahead of the game talking about the “special occasion” that awaited fans against the world champion Springboks. I’m pretty sure that wouldn’t have involved witnessing our national team being put to the sword in a complete and utter annihilation.
The opportunity for the players to “challenge themselves against the very best sides in the world” was also cited as a reason for holding the fixture.
Any concept of the team challenging South Africa was a misrepresentation of the truth and dissipated within seconds of the kick-off.
It became a contest between men and boys. In other words, Welsh lambs to the slaughter. Well before the end of the game the team appeared to be well and truly shell-shocked.
This game didn’t do either team any good. We certainly didn’t provide a challenge for South Africa. In fact it was a complete and utter mismatch.
It is not Steve Tandy’s role as National Coach to fix Welsh rugby. He can only make the most of the quality of players who are produced by the system. However, this autumn the forwards have come off second best in each game.
Top of Dave Redding’s agenda must, therefore, be to produce a coaching structure that will improve the lack of power in the forwards that has become so obvious.
Take the front row for instance. If you look at the evidence from the autumn internationals and the Springboks game in particular, this is a specific area of concern.
In South Africa, it’s a fundamental part of their DNA to produce high quality tight forwards.
They produce props who are under no illusions that their major role, first and foremost, is to scrummage. They have a system that allows the best props to percolate to the top. Don’t misunderstand me, they are not just scrummagers. They possess other abilities that are also valuable to the team. But they do not select props just because they are the best ball handlers at the expense of their scrummaging duties.
Wales’ best props of the past 20 years or so were Gethin Jenkins and Adam Jones.
Gethin was the loosehead and while there may have been a few question marks about his scrummaging ability, his work in defence and at the breakdown was outstanding. It more than made up for any of his shortcomings in the scrum.
However, as far as I am concerned, Adam was far more valuable to the Wales cause because he could anchor the tighthead side of the scrum.
For those of you who are not au fait with the mechanics of scrummaging, the tighthead has to push against two opponents which, I’m sure you will realise is not a fair competition. This is what tightheads have to contend with and Adam at the time became one of the best in the world at dealing with this.
Fitness was Adam’s problem when he first emerged. Remember, he was subbed after only 30 minutes in his first test. But they persevered with him because he was able to resolve their scrummaging issues. They didn’t give a damn if he walked from scrum to scrum as long as he provided the scrummaging platform that they needed.
So much of a team’s game plan requires the scrum to be stable. Consequently, when Adam did what he did best, the likes of Shane Williams, Jonathan Davies and Mike Phillips were able to perform at their best.
Not only that but so many penalties are awarded against the scrum that is being disrupted.
On Saturday, Aaron Wainwright did well at times to clear up the mess at the back of a disintegrating Welsh scrum near our line. Unfortunately, he hasn’t got the ability of Taulupe Faletau in being able to create something positive in those situations.
The system that almost allowed Adam to slip through the net needs to change. At the moment they want to coach the next generation of young props to be another Gethin Jenkins, not another Adam Jones.
It seems that if they can’t make another Gethin Jenkins they give up and move on to the next lad. Whereas, in South Africa there is a never-ending procession of potential scrummaging props being pointed in the right direction.
The current players are just a part of the continuing faulty production line.
The system is now Dave Redding’s issue to solve. In that respect, I hope he will prove to be a visionary and that the damage that has been done to Welsh rugby over the years by his predecessors is not too much to be rectified.
I wonder whether he realised when he accepted the position Director of Rugby and Elite Performance exactly how much needed fixing with the weight of the nation on his shoulders.
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