After a busy opening long weekend of 2021, here are the winners and losers from the PRO14 and Gallagher Premiership.
WINNERS
Louis Rees-Zammit
Wales speedster Louis Rees-Zammit was among the brighter of Gloucester’s performers in their last-minute 22-19 defeat to Sale Sharks on Saturday.
The 19-year-old, capped by Wayne Pivac during the autumn, showed his electric pace to produce a superb finish around the outside of Sam James to score the Cherry and Whites’ first try of the game.
He pounced on 33 minutes when his side worked maul possession from one side of the pitch to the other around the halfway line, allowing the Cardiff product to race in from the 22 to score.
“What a wonderful try,” former England skipper Lawrence Dallaglio said during his commentary for BT Sport.
“You have got to give credit to Lloyd Evans, he just delays that pass, beautifully weighted and once they find the connection with Rees-Zammit it’s goodnight. He has got so much pace on the outside, a really lovely try.”
The Welsh youngster’s exploits came just days after he was namechecked by Sir Ian McGeechan as having the potential to be “unstoppable” on the Lions tour to South Africa (if it goes ahead, of course, but more of that later).
Gloucester held the lead for much of the game thanks to Rees-Zammit, a Fraser Balmain try and nine points via Lloyd Evans’ boot, but a late Josh Beaumont score saw Sale nick the win at Kingsholm.
Will Rowlands
The Wales second-row will be pleased with himself for putting in another quietly impressive performance just weeks away from the start of the new Six Nations campaign.
He was ever-present in Wasps’ 34-5 win over Exeter on Saturday, involved from the early stages, sealing Exeter’s maul and later holding up an otherwise certain try.
With Alun Wyn Jones and Jake Ball both doubts for at least the start of the 2021 campaign – beginning on February 7 against Ireland – Rowlands is set to shoulder major responsibility at the heart of Wales’ pack.
After his man-of-the-match performance for Wasps against Sale over Christmas, let’s hope his club form goes into the Test arena.
Cardiff Blues
If Rhys Priestland really is on his way back to Welsh rugby next season with a move to Cardiff Blues, then what a coup that is for the Welsh region.
The veteran fly-half is almost 34 and is out of contract with Bath this summer, but he has been in superb form for the Blue, Black and Whites.
With 50 caps to his name, the former Scarlet was awarded the Gallagher Premiership’s Golden Boot award in October having scored 200 points in a season where The Rec outfit reached the play-offs for the first time in five years.
His game-management has brought huge praise in recent months, his goal-kicking skills remain lethal and he would bring with him plenty of experience from his lengthy career which saw highs during the 2011 and 2015 World Cups.
A big coup for the Cardiff Blues if it all works out.
The Autumn Nations Cup is here as a busy month of international rugby arrives.
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Wales Women
A new era officially began for Wales Women on the opening weekend of 2021 as new head coach Warren Abrahams led the first training camp of the year.
The South African coach, who has had stints with Harlequins, England Sevens and the USA Sevens team, was appointed on a three-year contract in November and will oversee both the women’s 15s and Sevens international programmes.
Let’s hope he, along with national skills coach and former Wales captain Rachel Taylor, can hit the ground running with the women’s squad, who head into the Six Nations knowing it is their final competitive campaign before the Rugby World Cup begins in New Zealand in July this year.
Attention will then soon turn to the Sevens tournament at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham
The introduction of contracts would go a long way to helping close the performance gap, but this is big progress for Wales Women, who have endured a tumultuous few years on the management front.
Rowland Phillips missed their 2019 autumn and 2020 Six Nations matches before officially leaving his role last year, temporarily replaced by Chris Horsman, Geraint Lewis and Gareth Wyatt for last year’s Six Nations before former Dragons coach Darren Edwards was in charge for the eventually cancelled Scotland Six Nations clash in November.
Let’s hope this is the start of a successful new chapter for Wales Women.
Ken Owens
The Sheriff was well and truly missed during the autumn international campaign, when Wales’ lineout percentage on their own ball has slumped to 85%, 75%, 69%, 73% and 73%, with 17 lineouts lost in the five matches before the Italy finale.
Ruled out after undergoing shoulder surgery in October, Ken Owens’ return to the Scarlets and Wales fold will be a reassuring sight knowing Wayne Pivac needs result this campaign.
Owens, 34, is set to return to the field in the next fortnight having participated in the pre-match warm-up of his region’s 20-3 win over the Dragons on New Year’s Day.
“I’m back training with the team”, he told Radio Cymru’s Dewi Llwyd ar Fore Sul programme.
“I hope to be back playing again within the next two weeks if everything goes OK.”
LOSERS
Welsh rugby viewers
The New Year’s Day Welsh rugby derbies hardly had people talking for the right reasons, with former players and pundits alike branding the displays “awful” and “difficult to watch”.
Unlike Boxing Day, the January 1 encounters were presented with near perfect conditions, but to not much avail.
The Scarlets’ victory over the Dragons in particular attracted criticism, with an error-strewn opening 40 leading to a score at half-time of just 6-3 to the hosts. Granted, both teams were missing a few players due to Covid, injuries and squad rotation, but Tom Shanklin was adamant it was not good enough.
The Premier Sports pundit said: “They should be going in at half time and they should be torn to shreds. Skill-wise, it’s poor. There’s no excuse because conditions are good. The skill level is bad.”
The Ospreys’ 17-3 win over Cardiff Blues offered a little more, but Jonathan ‘Jiffy’ Davies alluded to the international trend bemoaned by so many during the autumn: defence dominating over attack.
He said: “Both games were poor. It must be a mindset. No intent to counter attack. They seem scared to try and beat a man.
“The ball carrier should be dictating the game not the defender. Difficult watch.”
It seems it’s not just Wales either; Edinburgh head coach Richard Cockerill has said he would have considered asking for his money back if he was a fan watching the 10-7 victory over Glasgow Warriors at the weekend.
After the tight Scottish derby which was scoreless until the 65th minute, he said: “If it had been 0-0 I’d have been emailing Premier Sports to get my subscription back.”
Lions
Players and fans, that is.
The fate of the 2021 tour to South Africa is set to be decided after meetings are held this month.
England’s health secretary Matt Hancock said he is “incredibly worried” about the South African variant of coronavirus, while there are fears the current vaccines will not work against the new strain.
Travelling without fans would be a devastating blow to the finances of the home unions, but such a showpiece global sporting event being delayed would also be a disappointment for fans too.
An option is to host South Africa in the UK, while another scenario to postpone the tour by a year would be fraught with challenges due to scheduled 2022 summer tours and so many matches a year out from a World Cup.
It seems no solution will suit all parties, but it would be a blow to see it pushed back.
Jarrod Evans
There is uncertainty about the plans of Jarrod Evans as the talented Wales international heads for the end of his contract at the Arms Park, but any arrival of Priestland could be a blow.
His last international appearance came off the bench against France during Wayne Pivac’s first Six Nations in charge and he was nowhere to be seen in the Test arena during the autumn, so if he feels marginalised he could seek a future elsewhere.
Scott Williams and Ospreys
The unlucky Wales and Ospreys centre is set to discover the extent of his serious shoulder injury this week.
Williams, 30, left the New Year’s Day Welsh derby against Cardiff Blues early with a shoulder problem.
Let’s hope it’s not too serious an injury.
After his back injury nightmare which lasted nearly two years and saw him miss out on the 2019 World Cup, it would be a shame to see him side-lined for a lengthy period again.
-- to www.walesonline.co.uk
