Warren Gatland is unlikely to leave many World Cup stones unturned as he searches for players after Wales’ disappointing Six Nations, but defeats for the four regions over the weekend confirmed that maybe expectations shouldn’t be too high heading to France.
It wasn’t mediocrity all the way from a Welsh perspective over the weekend, mind.
Individuals did stand out.
Taulupe Faletau, for instance, showed up well for Cardiff in their loss against Connacht, but rare is the game when he doesn’t show up well. Rhys Carre also made a mark off the bench. Likewise, Gatland will know the big man can do that.
But what else did Wales’ head coach learn?
Well, there were a number of players who didn’t feature in the Six Nations for Wales but who shone over the weekend. Some of them have been performing consistently, and with Gatland likely to announce his World Cup training squad in the coming weeks, the thinking is a few of them could rate a mention in selection debates.
Here are some of those involved.
Rhodri Williams
It’s now nine years and counting since Williams last played for Wales.
David Cameron was prime minister, Swansea City were on their way to finishing eighth in the Premier League and Barack Obama — or barrack a barman, as he was once referred to on S4C’s old subtitles service — was still US president.
A long time ago, then.
At times since, Williams could have been forgiven for wondering if he’d never get a chance again.
Perhaps he won’t. But he’s been playing as well as any Welsh scrum-half of late.
A revitalised Gareth Davies has been bang on form for the Scarlets, but Dragons captain Williams deserves arguably just as many plaudits as he has been delivering in a struggling side.
It’s the hallmark of a significant player.
Instead of wilting in the face of adversity, Williams has lifted his game, even in the 73-33 hiding against Glasgow Warriors at the start of the month. There were two try assists in that match that were special — one involving a bullet-like flat pass that put Jordan Williams over in the corner, the other featuring a breathtaking looped 30-metre delivery to Rio Dyer.
The skipper was at it again against Ulster on Friday evening, doing all he could to galvanise his side and scoring a try that improbably saw him pop up in the wide channels before burning off the cover with a burst of pace.
There was even one extraordinary lineout throw which saw Williams send a 35-metre pass looping over the entire set-piece and into the hands of Jared Rosser.
Outside the box and then some more.
Of course, there’s competition to be in pool of No. 9s Warren Gatland will name for his training squad.
As well as Davies, Williams has Rhys Webb, Tomos Williams and Kieran Hardy to compete with, while Lloyd Williams still has much to offer.
But the diminutive Dragon has found form at the right time and is a player who can boss a game from No. 9.
Just maybe he’s someone who’s worth having a closer look at.
Taine Basham
He’s another one who can be filed as ‘forgotten about’ by Wales or, if we are being more generous, out of the mix.
Yet it wasn’t so long ago that he was tearing it up under Wayne Pivac.
One pundit picked him in his World XV of the 2021 autumn series, then the Dragons back rower started the 2022 Six Nations with a try, 15 carries and 22 tackles and not a single miss against Ireland. “Chucking my body about is what I have to do for the team, so I can be happy with that,” he later told media interviewers.
Everything seemed set fair for him, but he lost his Wales place as the tournament wore on and in October sustained a significant arm injury playing for the Dragons. Then he became a father for the first time. “He’s a new dad and is now experiencing the world of lack of sleep,” said Dragons coach Dai Flanagan shortly after.
It’s been challenging, then, to say the least, but the all-action openside had a strong game against Ulster on Friday evening, with one draft of stats suggesting he’d made 84 metres from 12 carries, with seven defenders beaten and two of his runs resulting in clean line busts. According to the figures, there were also a dozen tackles, eight passes and a try assist. He didn’t lead the half-time singing, but there wasn’t much else he failed to do on the night.
Dewi Lake
Mild surprise was expressed in TV commentary when the hooker was replaced on 50 minutes for the Ospreys against Edinburgh. The visitors were never going to win — a completely out-of-sorts opening-half effort ensured that — but front-row strongman Lake had bucked the trend by playing well for them.
He scored two tries and is ferociously hard to stop near the opposition line.
An injury for Lake against Leicester in January meant that Gatland was denied his services for the Six Nations, but he is a player who’s going to be important to Wales during the World Cup and the more he plays the better he’ll become.
Keiran Williams
Like Lake, he showed up well in a disappointing collective effort by the Ospreys in the Scottish capital.
You just wonder why Wales didn’t use him during the Six Nations.
In three games since, against the Dragons and Edinburgh in the United Rugby Championship and against Saracens in the Heineken Champions Cup, he has been exceptional, with his ability to make ground for his side something to behold.
If Williams’ piledriving runs were not enough to affect the result against Edinburgh, he could still be proud of his effort, with close on a minibus of defenders beaten and many metres made from his 11 runs.
Why Wales are not seeing what he brings remains one of the great mysteries
Thomas Young
It’s fully six years since Lawrence Dallaglio dubbed Young as ‘phenomenal’ and urged Wales to pick him.
So much for big-name backing. Since then, Young has won just four caps.
Wales’ riches at openside have left him largely on the outside looking in, but he had been playing superbly before a lower-leg injury in January dashed any hopes he had of figuring in the Six Nations.
But Young is a player who can’t be kept down and he was to the fore for Cardiff again when they played Connacht on Saturday evening, with two tries crowning his effort. He also matched Taulupe Faletau tackle for tackle and metre for metre with ball in hand. A PhD in rugby isn’t needed to appreciate that’s some effort.
Wales have left him out so often he probably never builds up his hopes, but he’s been a quality acquisition for Cardiff and rarely has a bad game.
Corey Domachowski
He and his mate Keiron Assiratti provided the scrum power to dump Sale out of the EPCR Challenge Cup recently, while the pair also caught the eye against Benetton. For Cardiff, the blossoming of the duo has been one of the pluses of the past couple of seasons.
Domachowski had another solid game against Connacht, not only putting in a shift in the pushing and shoving stakes but also denting the Irish team’s defence with his carrying.
Wales have plenty of looseheads jockeying for position, but Domachowski has been starting ahead of Rhys Carre and has been backing up good performances. If form counts for anything, he’ll at least rate a mention in World Cup training squad deliberations.
Carwyn Tuipulotu
It’s early days and the jury is still out, but there are encouraging signs that the young Scarlet may just be turning into the player his admirers in age-grade rugby felt he could be.
While much attention was focused on the decision not to award a try after Vaea Fifita’s dash to the line over 85 metres, the youngster wearing the Scarlets No. 8 jersey in the absence of the injured Sione Kalamafoni was quietly banging in a shift that had ‘promise’ written all over it.
Tuipulotu didn’t miss a beat in defence and made plenty of ground with ball in hand. In difficult conditions, he frequently did enough to ease the pressure on his side with charges that saw him cross the gainline.
Wales are desperate for another No. 8 to emerge for their succession plan after Taulupe Faletau.
There needs to be more evidence before anyone can get too excited about Tuipulotu, but he appears to be developing nicely and is another who's worth tracking.
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