Mark Ring has called on Wales to solve their centre conundrum by moving skipper Dan Biggar from fly-half to No. 12.
He would also like to see Gareth Davies feature at scrum-half and Callum Sheedy drafted in as a starter in a radical backline shake-up for Six Nations game with Scotland in Cardiff on Saturday.
And Ring reckons that only two Wales forwards should now be considered as definite starters — Will Rowlands and Ellis Jenkins
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It’s typically radical thinking from one of Wales’ most naturally gifted rugby players of the past 40 years. Ring, who won 27 of his Test caps in the centre and four at fly-half, reckons switching Biggar into midfield would give Wayne Pivac’s side something they have been lacking.
“Inside centre is a really important position because a good 12 can take pressure off the fly-half and help his No. 13,” said Ring.
“This Wales squad doesn’t seem to have a 12 who ticks all the boxes among their midfield players, so I’d put Biggar there, with Sheedy at fly-half.
“Biggar is physical, he’s a competitor, he has experience,
“If he needs to drop into the 10 position and do something simple from a kicking perspective — say Wales were in front and needed to close a game down — he could do it.
“Any fly-half should be able to play 12, because he should be used to making early decisions in terms of defence and seeing things in attack.
“If you look at the fella who played there last weekend, Nick Tompkins, I see him more as a 13 or a winger.
“I don’t see him as a playmaker.
“There’s a difference between being a second five-eighth, a playmaker, and an inside centre who carries the ball up.
“Wales had an inexperienced 13 last weekend in Josh Adams. For me, they needed someone alongside him with the ability to pick up things early and see things from the inside out.
“Tompkins is more of a ball-watcher and while he may have made a lot of tackles against Ireland, people were running into his channel. You can have all the stats in the world that suggest someone’s played well, but stats count for only so much.”
Wales have four No. 10s in their squad in Biggar, Sheedy, Gareth Anscombe and Rhys Priestland. Sheedy didn’t start at all for Wales during the autumn, but he’s a regular for Bristol Bears and is seen as a key figure in a backline that contains Semi Radradra, Charles Piutau and Ioan Lloyd.
“I’d like to see him given a run,” said Ring.
“He doesn’t play things completely by the book and he seems prepared to think and act a bit differently.
“I like Jarrod Evans. He’s a lovely, silky runner and he’s a threat when the game breaks up, but his kicking can be a problem.
“I think there’s room for Sheedy to improve as a kicker out of hand as well. I don’t like the way either of them kick, to be honest. It’s on the point of the ball, rugby league style. For me, it’s a lot of nonsense. I don’t want to get into a technical explanation of why it’s wrong, but it means that if they’re in traffic they have to rush their kicks.”
The big call for Pivac this week is what he does with Josh Adams.
The selectors switched him from wing to outside centre for the Ireland game but it would be hard to call the experiment an unqualified success. In fact, there were plenty who felt it misfired hopelessly, with Adams appearing to endure 50 shades of uncertainty in defence.
When he was moved out wide late on, he looked far more comfortable.
“I would play him in the back three alongside Liam Williams and Louis Rees-Zammit,” said Ring.
“That said, I don’t buy the idea that playing at outside centre is hugely complicated.
“Decisions are made by the time the ball gets there, so for me it’s the easiest position on the field.
“People turn an easy position into a complicated one. If the 10s and 12s are seeing things early enough, the 13 reacts to them. People tell me I’m old-fashioned, but at 13 you have so much time to see a play unfolding there shouldn’t be a problem.
“You put [Justin] Tipuric in there and he’d be better than the lot of them.
“I don’t see Willis Halaholo as a second five-eighth because I’m not sure about his kicking game.
“I’d probably ask Halaholo to play at 13 if he’s fully fit.
“Then when George North returns, I’d pick him.
“I’d also have Gareth Davies at scrum-half.”
Wales are undoubtedly missing the experience of injured forwards such as Justin Tipuric, Taulupe Faletau, Ken Owens, Josh Navidi and Alun Wyn Jones.
But they would still have hoped their pack would have performed better than they did against Ireland in Dublin.
“When I look at forwards in Wales, Tipuric is up there, as is Ken Owens and Ellis Jenkins. Will Rowlands is heading in the right direction,” said Ring.
“Given that Tipuric and Owens are injured, I’d see Jenkins and Will Rowlands as my only forward definites to faces Scotland. Rowlands puts himself about and is a hard-worker.
“In some of the other positions, I think it’s much of a muchness. I rate Rowlands, but there’s scope for Adam Beard to improve. The Lions took him on tour last summer, but maybe we should be asking why he was so quiet last weekend.
“I’d have Taine Basham in the team as well because Tipuric is missing.
“I’m worried about Wyn Jones. Against South Africa, he came on and the scrum was absolutely destroyed.
“Should we be asking Adam Jones to come in and help with the scrummaging? If it’s an area of concern, bring him in.
“Sometimes, specialist help can do wonders.
“I remember Charlie Faulkner coming in during the early 1990s.
“Brian Williams, God rest his soul, was a hugely strong man but he wasn’t the biggest. But with Charlie Faulkner’s help he did a decent job against England against Jeff Probyn.
“Adam Jones is in the thick of things with Harlequins.
“Why hasn’t someone asked about him coming in?”
Ring continued: “Three years ago, when Wales won the Grand Slam, Ireland’s scrum was under pressure against Wales. That’s because Rob Evans and Ken Owens both attacked Tadhg Furlong and destroyed him.
“Tadhg Furlong got under pressure against the Springboks last summer as well.
“He was going backwards in the scrums in the Test series, yet everyone thinks he’s fantastic. Yet he locked up the scrum against us because we didn’t have a hooker and a loosehead prop to put pressure on him.
“We need to do something about it.”
Ring is a free-thinker who sees things differently from most.
Some regard him as having one of the sharpest rugby minds in the game.
As a coach, he pulled off the remarkable feat of guiding Caerphilly to a European final, with the club losing to Castres in the Parker Pen Shield showpiece in 2003. He also took Cross Keys to a British & Irish Cup final, where they lost against Munster A.
But he’s become concerned about coaching in Wales.
“You look at Wales U20s getting drubbed by 50 points and you wonder what’s going on,” he said.
“I guess you have to look at everything over a number of years.
“But the quality of some of the coaching in Wales is startlingly worrying.”
Despite their miserable performance against Ireland, Wales are expected to be a tougher proposition against Scotland in Cardiff. “Matches between the two teams have historically been fantastic, open affairs," added Ring.
“There’s the Cardiff factor and you’d like to think there’d be a reaction.
“But I have a good feeling about this Scotland team.
“If I was a betting man, I’d say they’d win this weekend.”
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