No 8 crisis looming for Wales coach Gatland on home front
WARREN GATLAND may have swept all before him in Europe – but a crisis is looming on the home front.
The ability of Wales’ Grand Slam coach to focus on the short term has seen the New Zealander make a massive impact in his new job.
Weeks after arriving in Wales, he masterminded an astonishing Welsh revival in the Six Nations.
Gatland is now preparing for the summer tour to South Africa, but his thoughts must be turning to what is happening at the regions for next season.
Now the tough-talking Kiwi’s ability to deal with the long term and focus on the bigger picture will come under the spotlight.
Why? Because Gatland could be right behind the eight ball when it comes to Welsh qualified No 8s.
Forget the scrum-half issue of three non-Welsh inside-halves playing at three out of the four Welsh regions, suddenly it’s the No 8 position which has become the burning issue.
Kiwis Justin Marshall and Jason Spice are at the No 9s at the Ospreys and Blues respectively, while Tongan Sililo Martens will replace Dwayne Peel at the Scarlets.
But the No 8 shirt at each of the four Welsh regions will be filled by non-Welsh players.
Gatland, who has voiced his concerns about the number of overseas players in Wales, cannot be happy about that.
Since Gatland’s arrival in Wales, Alix Popham has confirmed his move from the Scarlets to Brive and Michael Owen has switched from the Dragons to Saracens.
Only Ryan Jones, his Wales No 8 and captain, will be playing in Wales.
But where does Gatland go if Jones is injured?
The other Welsh No 8s may do a good job for their respective sides, but they have already been deemed not good enough to be first choices at their regions.
The Scarlets have Nathan Thomas and rookie Josh Turnbull, while the Blues have Mark Lewis and Andy Powell.
Andy Lloyd and Jonathan Thomas have played No 8 at the Ospreys, but both are considered to be better blindside flankers.
What isn’t in doubt is that the influx of non-Welsh No 8s has now reached critical mass.
The Scarlets have replaced Popham with Wallaby No 8 David Lyons, Xavier Rush is a permanent fixture at the Blues and Filo Tiatia is the safe pair of hands in the No 8 shirt at the Ospreys.
The Dragons, meanwhile, have three possible candidates to wear the No 8 jersey at Rodney Parade – Nic Fitisemanu, Joe Bearman and Grant Webb – and all are non-Welsh-qualifed.
If Gatland is as good as his word, under the Welsh Rugby Union’s ludicrous home rule policy, he will also refuse to select Popham and Owen because they are playing outside Wales.
So captain Jones, who guided Wales to this season’s Grand Slam, will be even more important to Gatland than he already is.
Somehow, it’s hard to see Gatland, who is a natural pragmatist, considering such a course.
So where does that leave WRU chief Roger Lewis’ initiative to keep Welsh players in Wales?
Not worth the paper it is written on.
But it presents the WRU with a real dilemma.
On the one hand, they have threatened not select Welsh players who are playing outside Wales, while. on the other, the regions are drafting in overseas players at a real rate of knots.
No-one seems ready to stop, let alone stem, the tide of non-Welsh players coming into Wales.
Nobody wants some kind of rugby ‘fascism’ in Wales and everybody appreciates what the likes of Marshall, Rush and Tiatia have brought to the national game.
But there has to be a limit and the No 8 issue is a rugby iceberg which could sink Gatland’s hopes at Test level.
Regional rugby was introduced to ensure Welsh rugby was a game played, coached and run by Welsh people – that concept is slowly, but surely, being diluted.
The regions themselves, who bank in the region of £3.2m from the WRU, have a duty to underpin the national side.
With only four professional sides – Scarlets, Ospreys, Blues and Dragons – now in Wales, the regions cannot be allowed to sail off into the sunset under their own steam and play fantasy rugby.
Welsh rugby has been there before and it nearly bankrupted the professional game in this country.
The old professional clubs of Neath, Bridgend, Ebbw Vale, Swansea, Pontypridd and Llanelli all had cash problems.
But the regions aren’t the only ones who have an obligation to the bigger picture.
The WRU has a responsibility, as guardians of the game in Wales, to ensure the national game’s sovereignty.
