Maybe James Ratti doesn’t yet have a big enough name to make it onto Fiona Bruce’s autocue for News at Ten.
Maybe it’s the way of the world that some people seem to command more attention than others.
But, still, it was a mild eye-opener that Ratti’s recent departure from Cardiff went so far under the radar.
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Turn back the clock 16 months and the back-five forward’s career seemed to be heading in only one direction.
Quins had the strong carrying England international Alex Dombrandt at No. 8, but Ratti outplayed him. Indeed, he outplayed pretty much everyone else on the field. Most tackles by a forward? That was Ratti. Most carries by one of the big men up front? Him again. Most metres made? You’ve guessed it.
A Wales squad call immediately followed, with Ratti included in Wayne Pivac’s panel for the 2022 Six Nations when the names were announced just four days later.
His regional team-mate Seb Davies greeted the news by saying: “He works very hard, and I think if he gets that chance then he’ll do well because he’s awesome. He carries non-stop for Cardiff. He’s a big man who is quick off the base, and he is very physical with his carries.”
The problem was that opportunity didn’t come Ratti’s way. Taulupe Faletau may have been sidelined by injury for the first two rounds of the competition, but Pivac used Aaron Wainwright at No. 8 against Ireland and Ross Moriarty in the middle-of-the-back-row slot against Scotland. There was not a sniff of chance for the new man. No place on the bench, nothing. And when Faletau returned his prospects of a game receded even further: of course they did.
Nor was there a cap on the summer tour of South Africa.
Matters didn’t improve heading into this season.
In fact, far from playing for Wales, Ratti didn’t find it easy to secure a start for Cardiff, with Faletau having switched to the Arms Park from Bath. There were three United Rugby Championship appearances while the great man was away on Six Nations duty, but apart from those, Ratti had just one other outing in Cardiff’s run-on XV in the league in 2022-23. The previous season he’d started 11 URC games.
And so it was amid Welsh rugby’s great financial squeeze, the tall man at the back of the scrum has moved on. Cardiff made him an offer, but he rejected it.
He now has a decision to make.
It is understood all the regions are interested in him and there have been enquiries from England and France, for even in the game’s new era of belt tightening and trying to make every penny count, he could still prove a useful pick-up.
An age-grade coach who had guided him at Dunvant early in his career went on record to speak glowingly of him around the time of his Wales call-up. “He was a big lad and in schoolboy and youth rugby the bigger players tend to stand out, but James also had ball skills and other qualities. He even played on the wing for us, as well as at lock and No. 8. He had some pace as well as power,” Rob Murphy told this writer.
Qualities such as those count, and Ratti will hope to sort out a new deal sooner rather than later.
Hard-working and self-effacing, he is someone who will add value to a squad, a player with plenty to offer.
Whichever team snaps him up will be overseeing a good piece of business.
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