It’s been a week when the whole world seemed to have had a say over Joe Hawkins. Possibly the pet poodle might have a view as well.
Is the five-cap player able to play for Wales after his move from the Ospreys to Exeter Chiefs?
“On the face of it, he is ineligible,” Professional Rugby Board chairman Malcolm Wall told WalesOnline this week, adding the qualification that the situation would need to be looked into and appropriate detail supplied before a final call was made.
“I expect him to play for Wales,” said Exeter director of rugby Rob Baxter.
Well, Baxter's probably said enough on the matter after his comments in February when he publicly denied reports linking Hawkins to Exeter.
Anyway, another issue is whether the 20-year-old is actually likely to be picked in Warren Gatland’s World Cup squad if he is able to be selected.
Welsh rugby doesn’t just have one talented centre, after all. Here are eight contenders who could merit consideration by Gatland:
George North
There were thought to be three certainties in this world — death, taxes and Wales picking George North when the big man was fit.
Then Wayne Pivac decided there was nothing definite about the third one on that list at all, with North dropped as the New Zealander settled in as Wales head coach. Pivac then threw a further dash of salt in by suggesting the call to omit him had been “easy”. That was some 30 months ago.
Turn back the clock further and there was a time when Warren Gatland was seriously reluctant to overlook North, but he benched him for the game with Italy in the recent Six Nations and left him out completely for the match with England in the previous round.
What to make of those calls? Gatland was experimenting in selection and North wasn’t the only big name to be stood down in the championship as the coach tried to give young players exposure at Test level.
But he was back for the final game with France when Wales looked better in attack. There may still have been a few glitches in defence in the midfield area, and he may have been turned over once or twice too many, but Les Bleus found him a handful to deal with and North made close on 70 metres from his 10 runs.
The expectation is, then, that he will be in Gatland’s World Cup squad.
Kieran Williams
You could probably fill the Albert Hall with the number of players on a rugby field who have looked at Kieran Williams and assumed he would be easy to stop in the tackle, only to find themselves blasted backwards by the sheer power of the player running at them.
Last week, Saracens had a go at stopping the deceptively strong Ospreys man. Williams busted their line twice in quick succession early on to help set up a try for Michael Collins, then forced his own way over in the corner. There were crash tackles, a turnover, passes, metres made in a display that very much lived up to his billing.
Plenty were impressed. The i newspaper spoke of the “brilliant emerging centre Keiran Williams”. The Guardian said: “We would hardly be the first to compare Williams to Scott Gibbs, but he can never have looked so barrel-chested and explosive than when he burst through Saracens’ defence in the 11th minute to set up the first try of the match, for Mike Collins.”
Wales didn’t cap him in the Six Nations, but they also had difficulty breaking tackles and with his leg drive and ability to punch holes in defences the 25-year-old has to be in the mix for World Cup selection.
Johnny Williams
Williams reportedly took a punt and called Wayne Pivac to tell him of his Wales ambitions during the pandemic when rugby was in cold storage.
There should be no need for him to phone Warren Gatland. The New Zealand should be giving him a ring.
Williams’ challenge is to stay fit, with the Scarlet dogged by a number of frustrating injuries since arriving in Llanelli in 2020.
But he is a quality player who breaks the first line of defence and hits hard in the tackle, the type who can change the pattern of a game. If he remains injury free, he’ll be on Gatland's radar.
Owen Watkin
Gatland included Watkin in his World Cup squad in 2019 and has long had faith in the Osprey, seeing him as a safe defensive option.
Watkin is also a better attacker than he is given credit for, but in a Wales shirt his offensive skills have often stayed under wraps.
At 26, he falls into the age bracket where Wales are fairly light. He is also reliable and Gatland enjoys reliability.
There is work for him to do after he missed the Six Nations through injury. But don't rule him out.
Max Llewellyn
At 6ft 5in and 16st 7lb, Llewellyn has the raw materials to more than hold his own among the giants that populate most Test midfields these days. But his qualities are wider than the casual observer might appreciate.
Yes, he can run through reinforced brick walls. But he also has sleight of hand and can offload with the best of ’em, with his dad Gareth Llewellyn, the former Wales captain, nicknaming him Skinny Bill Williams when Max was young after the much-admired New Zealander who had a penchant for releasing the ball in the tackle.
Llewellyn is heading to England to play for Gloucester but it won’t affect his Wales eligibility as he has yet to win a Test cap. The World Cup may come too soon or him, but Gatland has already spoken about the possibility of bolters emerging.
Mason Grady
Saturday against Sale saw the Mason Grady that we didn’t see a lot of in the Six Nations. In the championship, the youngster discovered that Test rugby can be claustrophobic with every metre of space having to be worked for. But against Sale, he showcased the qualities that led to his Wales call in the first place.
Not only did he look safe in defence, he fairly sailed clear of the opposition as he made three clean breaks and 74 metres for Cardiff. There was also a turnover lobbed into the mix. He looked a player who had learned from experiences in the Six Nations.
Wales invested in him and he did improve. Like Llewellyn, he has serious physical dimensions. His age and relative inexperience could work against him. There again, Gatland seems to like him. A serious option, then.
Nick Tompkins
He saw little action during the Six Nations but when he did start, against France, Wales produced their best attacking rugby of the championship. Tompkins is busy, can also be spiky and doesn’t often go missing in action.
Like Owen Watkin, the 28-year-old Saracen is also what’s considered to be a good age for a World Cup player. And he plays in one of the best club environments in the world.
His critics argue he lacks the classical inside centre’s skills, but not everyone can be a Mark Ring or a Matt Giteau and there are different ways for a 12 to operate. Gatland isn’t likely to forget that with Tompkins and North working together against France, Wales showed signs of life behind the scrum.
Joe Hawkins
The man of the moment, with huge attention focused on him, if not for reasons that he would probably want.
The first question is whether he will be eligible for the global tournament this autumn, with the Welsh Rugby Union set to look into his case and that of Will Rowlands. Suffice to say the issue of when Hawkins actually committed pen to paper on his contract with Exeter Chiefs will be looked at in detail.
Whatever is said, Rob Baxter’s quotes of February 23, when the Exeter Chiefs director of rugby denied reports linking the youngster to the Devon club, complicated the matter hugely and some will feel still haven’t been satisfactorily explained away.
It’s also a test for Welsh rugby's 25-cap rule, the precise and detailed provisions of which are not familiar to all. But the WRU and PRB will know that a law that contains loopholes isn’t worth the paper it’s written on.
That’s not to say definitively anyone has done anything wrong here. But the union need to provide clarity, and sooner rather than later.
The next issue is whether Hawkins actually merits a place in Gatland’s World Cup plans.
He showed promise during the Six Nations with the variety to his game. Not only can he distribute, he can also truck the ball up. His defence wasn’t great, with the 20-year-old missing more tackles than all but five other players in the tournament, but he is young and that can be worked on.
Maybe the biggest argument in his favour is that he has a kicking game and experience of playing fly-half. Potentially, that could allow Gatland to name just the two specialist No. 10s in his squad for France, freeing up an extra selection elsewhere. Stuff like that matters hugely to a coach.
But, first, let’s see how the issues over his move from Ospreys to Exeter play out.
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