WALES NEEDED AN injection of positivity and Matt Sherratt has already brought that.
Stepping in as interim head coach for the next three Six Nations games following Warren Gatland’s departure, the Cardiff boss has spoken about getting “real excitement” back into the Welsh group and playing attractive attacking rugby.
He has also been honest about the massive challenge on his hands. Sherratt is in Galway today for his Cardiff side’s URC clash with Connacht.
Facing Ireland in a week will be in the back of his mind but this evening’s clash at Dexcom Stadium is crucial for Cardiff, who are fifth in the URC.
Sherratt will make tracks for Wales’ training base in the Vale of Glamorgan tomorrow and then have a couple of training sessions before his team take on Six Nations leaders Ireland. So making any major tweaks to what Wales do will be extremely difficult.
Adding a pair of genuine out-halves to the squad in Gareth Anscombe and Jarrod Evans was a smart first move from Sherratt this week, while powerful centre/wing Max Llewellyn has been playing well for Gloucester and looks like another good call-up.
It’s sad how the second Gatland era petered out but it was also a little predictable. He remains the most successful Welsh national team coach ever and what he did first time around is still remarkable but that all happened with a golden generation of talent.
Advertisement
It’s not controversial to say that Wales haven’t got that now. Perhaps some of the younger stars in this squad or emerging with the regions can go on to achieve great things but there are few players in the current group who will be pushing for starting places with the Lions. Back in 2009, Wales had six starters in each of the first two Lions Tests, with a further three players on the bench.
Wales will welcome home comforts next weekend. Matteo Ciambelli / INPHO
Matteo Ciambelli / INPHO / INPHO
And all of that said, it was clear that Gatland wasn’t getting the best out of what Wales have at their disposal now. The next three games are about simply getting smiles back on faces and showing some real pride, but the next chapter for Wales has to be a complete departure from the Gatland way.
They need to figure out a style of play that suits the talent they do have and the Welsh Rugby Union still has serious work to do on the structures within the Welsh game. The current low of a 14-game losing streak has been coming for some time. Even though Gatland won a Grand Slam with Wales in 2019 and they won a Six Nations title as recently as 2021, there were clear signs of a shaky foundation under international level.
For now, you can understand why many Welsh fans feel a sense of trepidation about the visit of Ireland to Cardiff next Saturday.
It would be a shock if the Principality Stadium isn’t rocking come kick-off time, as it always is with such passionate home fans, but Ireland will be eager to silence them from the opening minutes.
Simon Easterby’s men are 25-point favourites at the time of writing. Their biggest-ever winning margin in Wales was 30 back in 2001 when Denis Hickie, Brian O’Driscoll and Shane Horgan scored tries in a 36-6 victory in a Six Nations clash in October, the game having been rescheduled due to the foot-and-mouth outbreak.
Ireland’s coaches won’t be mentioning such favouritism and will instead talk to their players about the threats posed by classy players like Welsh captain Jac Morgan and scrum-half Tomos Williams.
They will expect a bounce effect from Sherratt coming in and Wales getting back to their fortress in Cardiff after two tough games away to France and Italy. There is nothing like familiar home comforts to lift a team.
From their point of view, Ireland will have weighed up making changes to their team for this round three clash but Easterby and co. will be loath to give up some of the momentum they have felt gathering in the players they have used so far.
Ireland are going after a Grand Slam. Billy Stickland / INPHO
Billy Stickland / INPHO / INPHO
In that sense, it would be a surprise if Ireland veer much from their selections so far, although replacements like Jack Conan and Dan Sheehan have been pushing hard for a start.
Jack Crowley is another in that bracket but with rest weekends on either side of the Wales game, you could understand if Ireland stuck with Sam Prendergast at number 10 rather than rotating.
It would seem like an ideal chance for loosehead prop Jack Boyle, who played for Leinster last night, to make his Test debut off the bench, while Jamie Osborne would benefit hugely from getting another well-earned chance.
Joe McCarthy could feature for the first time in this Six Nations and Mack Hansen should be back, but Tadhg Furlong remains a doubt. And that might be it in terms of fresh faces coming into the Irish matchday 23.
Though they won’t speak about it, Ireland are obviously in the hunt for a Grand Slam. They regretted their slip-up at Twickenham last year, even if they won the championship. Easterby will be driving a message about not letting up in any way next weekend.
- This article was updated at 1.13pm on 15 February to correct an error stating that Wales won the Six Nations in 2022, rather than 2021.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Close
10 Comments
This is YOUR comments community. Stay civil, stay constructive, stay on topic.
Please familiarise yourself with our comments policy
here
before taking part.
Wales will surely get a bounce but Ireland have Grand Slam ambitions
WALES NEEDED AN injection of positivity and Matt Sherratt has already brought that.
Stepping in as interim head coach for the next three Six Nations games following Warren Gatland’s departure, the Cardiff boss has spoken about getting “real excitement” back into the Welsh group and playing attractive attacking rugby.
He has also been honest about the massive challenge on his hands. Sherratt is in Galway today for his Cardiff side’s URC clash with Connacht.
Facing Ireland in a week will be in the back of his mind but this evening’s clash at Dexcom Stadium is crucial for Cardiff, who are fifth in the URC.
Sherratt will make tracks for Wales’ training base in the Vale of Glamorgan tomorrow and then have a couple of training sessions before his team take on Six Nations leaders Ireland. So making any major tweaks to what Wales do will be extremely difficult.
Adding a pair of genuine out-halves to the squad in Gareth Anscombe and Jarrod Evans was a smart first move from Sherratt this week, while powerful centre/wing Max Llewellyn has been playing well for Gloucester and looks like another good call-up.
It’s sad how the second Gatland era petered out but it was also a little predictable. He remains the most successful Welsh national team coach ever and what he did first time around is still remarkable but that all happened with a golden generation of talent.
It’s not controversial to say that Wales haven’t got that now. Perhaps some of the younger stars in this squad or emerging with the regions can go on to achieve great things but there are few players in the current group who will be pushing for starting places with the Lions. Back in 2009, Wales had six starters in each of the first two Lions Tests, with a further three players on the bench.
And all of that said, it was clear that Gatland wasn’t getting the best out of what Wales have at their disposal now. The next three games are about simply getting smiles back on faces and showing some real pride, but the next chapter for Wales has to be a complete departure from the Gatland way.
They need to figure out a style of play that suits the talent they do have and the Welsh Rugby Union still has serious work to do on the structures within the Welsh game. The current low of a 14-game losing streak has been coming for some time. Even though Gatland won a Grand Slam with Wales in 2019 and they won a Six Nations title as recently as 2021, there were clear signs of a shaky foundation under international level.
For now, you can understand why many Welsh fans feel a sense of trepidation about the visit of Ireland to Cardiff next Saturday.
It would be a shock if the Principality Stadium isn’t rocking come kick-off time, as it always is with such passionate home fans, but Ireland will be eager to silence them from the opening minutes.
Simon Easterby’s men are 25-point favourites at the time of writing. Their biggest-ever winning margin in Wales was 30 back in 2001 when Denis Hickie, Brian O’Driscoll and Shane Horgan scored tries in a 36-6 victory in a Six Nations clash in October, the game having been rescheduled due to the foot-and-mouth outbreak.
Ireland’s coaches won’t be mentioning such favouritism and will instead talk to their players about the threats posed by classy players like Welsh captain Jac Morgan and scrum-half Tomos Williams.
They will expect a bounce effect from Sherratt coming in and Wales getting back to their fortress in Cardiff after two tough games away to France and Italy. There is nothing like familiar home comforts to lift a team.
From their point of view, Ireland will have weighed up making changes to their team for this round three clash but Easterby and co. will be loath to give up some of the momentum they have felt gathering in the players they have used so far.
In that sense, it would be a surprise if Ireland veer much from their selections so far, although replacements like Jack Conan and Dan Sheehan have been pushing hard for a start.
Jack Crowley is another in that bracket but with rest weekends on either side of the Wales game, you could understand if Ireland stuck with Sam Prendergast at number 10 rather than rotating.
It would seem like an ideal chance for loosehead prop Jack Boyle, who played for Leinster last night, to make his Test debut off the bench, while Jamie Osborne would benefit hugely from getting another well-earned chance.
Joe McCarthy could feature for the first time in this Six Nations and Mack Hansen should be back, but Tadhg Furlong remains a doubt. And that might be it in terms of fresh faces coming into the Irish matchday 23.
Though they won’t speak about it, Ireland are obviously in the hunt for a Grand Slam. They regretted their slip-up at Twickenham last year, even if they won the championship. Easterby will be driving a message about not letting up in any way next weekend.
- This article was updated at 1.13pm on 15 February to correct an error stating that Wales won the Six Nations in 2022, rather than 2021.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Cymru Ireland six nations 2025 Wales