As the first set of festive Welsh derbies took place on Boxing Day, Warren Gatland would have been watching on with keen interest from his native New Zealand.
The returning Wales coach still has plenty to settle when he returns to Wales ahead of the Six Nations, including his coaching ticket, but there are some things which are already fairly stable. With his first game in charge (again) being against the number one side in the world, Ireland, in less than 40 days' time, it will be a welcome boost for Gatland that, while there are some selection dilemmas, there are also more than a handful of players nailed on to start against the Irish on February 4.
For example, if fit, there's no doubt that Taulupe Faletau will start at No. 8, with the generational talent's name chiselled in stone. He starts, simple as that.
Who else joins him in the back-row? Maybe that's not as clear-cut as you'd think. Justin Tipuric is surely nailed on, right? But right now, Jac Morgan and Thomas Young are the form opensides in Wales, while there are plenty of other back-rowers in contention for places. As such, it's hard to be completely convinced Tipuric is a certainty, but his Ospreys team-mate Morgan, who packed down at blindside during the autumn, could just be.
Right now, everything he seems to do is just right. He is a breakdown menace, has a knack for scoring tries and, frankly, he's just a cheat code. He started just three matches for Wales in 2022, with three more cameo appearances off the bench. Yet he featured in two of their three wins. That win column might have been healthier had he been present a little more throughout the year. Will Tipuric partner him? You'd think so, but Young's form leaves just enough room for doubt.
Elsewhere, the injury to Will Rowlands narrows down the second-row options. Adam Beard, having been the only player to start every Welsh match in 2022, is surely a certainty to retain his place in the engine room, but what about Alun Wyn Jones? Will Gatland reinstate his former captain to the starting XV or will Ben Carter, Christ Tshiunza, Dafydd Jenkins or Rhys Davies force their way in? You would wager Jones will start in Rowlands' absence, but it's not guaranteed.
It is perhaps in the front-five where the most uncertainty lies and that could be indicative of the issues Gatland has to fix. Wales need to resolve their biggest issues, getting go-forward through carries and fixing the clearout. Under Wayne Pivac, the props carried the burden for clearing out at rucks and that often didn't seem conducive to Wales generating the quick ball they needed to play an attacking game. That could change under Gatland, with the reigns likely to be pulled in a little in order to provide more structure in the tight. Tight-five forwards who can carry well and provide a pick-and-go platform could be the way he decides to go, having done similar during the 2019 Grand Slam.
As such, loose-head might no longer be Gareth Thomas' shirt, with Rhys Carre surely likely to be recalled after that puzzling omission. On the tight-head, Tomas Francis seems the logical choice but having been out of favour in the autumn, you wouldn't put the mortgage on it.
Ken Owens, at this moment in time, feels the favourite to start at hooker, with Dewi Lake not quite back from injury yet. However, if the Ospreys man is back soon, as Toby Booth expects, there's no reason he couldn't start, given how destructive his carrying is.
In the backline, it feels like the change of coach could help earn Rhys Webb a call-up, but surely Tomos Williams has made that jersey his own now? Throughout the autumn, he showed what he could do, with his ability to challenge the fringes breathing some form of life into Wales' blunt attack towards the end of the campaign, even if it was too little, too late. Against the Dragons on Boxing Day, he showed how good he can be in broken play while, alongside Jarrod Evans, he pitched the second half pretty well as Cardiff tried to avoid a loose game in favour of winning the territorial stakes.
With Gareth Anscombe's injury, Dan Biggar will almost certainly start at fly-half. Gatland had previously namechecked Anscombe after the autumn, while he had also trusted him as his starter for the final year of his time in charge of Wales before long-term injury struck, but with that selection battle null and void due to another injury for Anscombe, Biggar is the obvious choice to wear the No. 10 jersey after missing the autumn through injury. Even if Anscombe was fit, Biggar would likely have been the first choice anyway.
Further out wide, 13 now seems to be George North's jersey and Gatland likely won't mind that, having tried to shift him there on multiple occasions during his previous stint as Wales boss. There is not a great deal of options at No. 13 beyond the Ospreys man and his mix of physicality and footwork can provide Wales with easy gainline depending how Gatland uses him.
Much of that depends on who plays at 12, with a ball-playing option meaning North could potentially run narrower angles, like Jonathan Davies did for the 2017 Lions while playing alongside a Johnny Sexton/Owen Farrell 10-12 axis. That could potentially endanger Nick Tompkins' place, with the likes of Joe Hawkins and Owen Williams capable of being that second five-eighth. Tompkins has done little wrong in a Welsh jersey, but Owen Watkin and Johnny Williams are also knocking on the door, so you never quite know where Gatland will go in terms of selection.
In the back-three, Josh Adams and Louis Rees-Zammit, with their ability to play on the wing or full-back, are surely nailed on as some of Wales' most dangerous strike-runners. Who takes that third spot, be it Liam Williams, Alex Cuthbert or Rio Dyer, will likely come down to form and fitness.
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