Monday: It’s pouring with rain in Wales this morning. The black cloud that has been hovering over the Principality since Saturday afternoon has finally burst, and the scene outside my window is appropriately sombre.

If I were a poet, I would take advantage of the conditions and write a metaphorical ode to the state of Welsh rugby. Fortunately I’m not. Instead I’ll write a more prosaic view: you can’t play that badly for half a match and expect to win.

Just because we did it against France in the Six Nations competition in 2005, doesn’t mean we can do it on every occasion. And things were different then. For one, we had a different coach in Mike Ruddock. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

'Why do we continue to believe that we’re not one of the minnows of the rugby world?'


Wales have failed to reach the quarter-finals of the Rugby World Cup again. It shouldn’t be that much of a surprise; out of the six tournaments, we’ve now failed on three occasions to get further than the pool. Twice we’ve been knocked out in the quarter-finals (each time by the eventual winner), with our most successful tournament being the very first one in 1987 when we took third place. Not a great record, so why do we continue to believe that we’re not one of the minnows of the rugby world?

This tournament has been fascinating so far. We’ve seen the acknowledged small fry of the Northern Hemisphere putting up great fights - rugby is coming on in these countries. Sadly, rugby north oof the Equator generally still lags way behind the south. The teams that were expected to provide some sort of challenge have failed to live up to expectations, with Scotland, who’ve been through the doldrums recently, offering the only sign of hope.

But what went wrong with Wales? Before the tournament I wrote that they needed to sort out their line-out. For season after season, it’s let them down. Amazingly, they did it. In the Fiji game, the commentator queried why Wales weren’t kicking for position ‘with their excellent line-outs’. My question is: why were they kicking as much as they did when they had such talented backs?

Then again, maybe nothing went wrong with Wales, we just weren’t good enough. We had moments of glory and thrilling rugby when we showed the world what Welsh rugby used to be about, but we also had the most miserable and abject rugby that would have shamed schoolboys.

But what do I know? I’m only a woman with limited knowledge of the intricacies of the game. Gareth Jenkins, with years of playing and coaching behind him, must know best. Or maybe he didn’t. The WRU don’t seem to think he did, judging by his rapid sacking.

And the players? Gareth Thomas stated the obvious, that there was no-one more disappointed than them, and that they expected a lot of recrimination from the press. Well, maybe they should just have played better.

They are not lacking talent but several of them failed to perform to their best. Dwayne Peel had a poor tournament, as did James Hook. Did the pressure of being acclaimed as world-class get to them? It doesn’t seem to affect Jonny Wilkinson or Daniel Carter.

The old hands played their rugby socks off. Martyn Williams and Colin Charvis can retire from the international scene with pride but the rest have a long way to go if they want, one day, to be able to recall their own glory days.
And so to the future. The search is already on for a new (or old?) coach. Regional rugby in Wales has taken a time to be established; now it must be built up and talented young players brought on – with careful handling. The WRU also needs to take a long look at itself.

Neutral observers have called the Wales-Fiji game ‘probably the best game so far of the tournament’, and, no doubt, viewed without a bias, the thrilling action and alternating scoreline made it that. But for those of us supporting Wales, it was far too painful to be appreciated for its excitement.

Rugby is the Welsh game but it’s more than that. It’s the nation’s life-blood. Everyone has an opinion; everyone knows better; everyone’s heard the rumours. But we’re no longer a force in world rugby; we haven’t been for some time though we might not want to admit it.

Now, as we look forward to 2011, is the time to change that. We do have good players, we do have the system in place to get the best for and from our youngsters we still have the belief. And although it’s taken a knocking, we can be great again!

You can’t keep a Welsh supporter down for long. C’mon, Wales!

Will Wales ever be a world-class team again? post a comment below or submit an article to Sportingo.