France 43 Wales 0.
Nil.
The point, or lack thereof, that has been hammered home to me in every WhatsApp group I am part of.
Shameful Wales. Spineless Wales. Talentless Wales. Pathetic Wales. But to me, that has just become … Wales.
In the past my rage at a loss like this would have lasted a week. I can vividly remember England’s last-gasp win in Cardiff in 2017. I put my phone in a cupboard for three days and on the night in question my girlfriend had to call me in from the garden because I was painting the same piece of wall in complete darkness.
Now? A shrug. I slept like a baby safe in the knowledge that we have an utterly dreadful rugby team. That is how far our stock has fallen.
People are now talking of Italy v Wales in Rome as being a massive game for Warren Gatland’s men. Italy. ITALY?! Give me strength.
‘Rotten from top to bottom’
Not every Welshman has become as apathetic as me. Of those that are still passionate about Welsh rugby, many are calling for Gatland’s head. The governance of the game is rotten from top to bottom and some will argue the head coach has been a major part of that decay. Wholesale changes could be justifiable, but it’s all laced with hindsight. The current situation – whether Gatland is to blame or not – means we have got a mediocre squad full of players who would not get near the Grand Slam squads of old.
In my lifetime we have had Neil Jenkins, Stephen Jones, Dan Biggar and James Hook. Now we have Sam Costelow. Scott Gibbs, Gavin Henson, Jamie Roberts. Now? Owen Watkin, who is closing in on 50 Welsh caps, which is just about the first perfect illustration of just how bad we are.
What is changing the coach really going to achieve other than appeasing the pitchfork-wielding mob? And, more concerningly, there are little to no youngsters knocking on the door. The Welsh football team is on the rise and rise, fuelled by Dafydd Iwan’s Yma O Hyd, leaning into the Welsh language and culture and driven by the fans. The difference between the two sports could not be starker.
Growing up, we spent our weekends at the rugby club. My upbringing was split between Penarth RFC, Old Penarthians RFC and Trebanos RFC. When I was down in Swansea, my grandparents would take me down to The Parc and me and a few boys would play two-on-two full contact in the dead-ball area while the first team battled it out on the pitch. It was usually me and a group of brothers – the Tipurics. One of whom, Justin, went on to do OK, I think?
A young Gareth Davies in his Wales jersey, rugby ball in hand – Gareth Davies
In Penarth,we played touch rugby on the street when it got too dark to dive about on the pitch. But you’d have to scour the country now to find a 10-year-old doing the same thing. It’s all football. At school, our biggest rivals were Glantaf, a state school that produced Jamie Roberts, Rhys Patchell, Lee Thomas and the Robinson brothers, Jamie and Nicky. Their head of PE, Dai Williams, banned footballs on the playground. The fear was that kicking it would harm how the boys kicked a rugby ball. Gavin Henson’s father also adopted the same tactic. Can you imagine that in a school today?
‘Eating scraps off plates behind the bins’
Today’s Welsh international rugby team is the product of years of neglect and complacency. Instead of making hay when the sun shone during our championship-winning years, we patted ourselves on the back and put our feet up. The community game was left to fend for itself and the regions remained in second gear in a thrown-together competition that doesn’t prepare players for the international game. Somehow, the four top Welsh sides spat out freak players like Jonathan Davies, Sam Warburton, Taulupe Faletau and Alun Wyn Jones. We were still able to dine at the top table in world rugby. Now? We are eating scraps off plates behind the bins and there’s no fix in sight.
If there was one thing I thought I would take to my grave with me, it would be my undying and unrelenting passion for the Welsh rugby team. The fact I do not care that we have just lost our record-breaking 13th game in a row is tragic. That is the biggest shame of the current state – we have accepted that we are as bad as we are. We have lost the fight. The Welsh should never lose the fire in the belly but there are only so many times you can get off the canvas after being walloped to the ground.
Shame on you, Welsh rugby.
And shame on me for giving up – but I have.
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Author : rugby-247
Publish date : 2025-02-01 13:51:33
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