“I feel like a man who has given the double of his key to a mate. The guy comes, takes your car, uses it for 10 days and leaves it in the middle of a field without any petrol.”
So commented the former Arsenal football manager Arsene Wenger back in the day on the perils of players going away on international duty. No doubt he would feel some sympathy for coaches at the Welsh rugby regions and beyond at this time of year.
It’s that time when all concerned are attempting to perform minor miracles with their squads. Injuries are piling up yet players have exited the club scene for the autumn Tests.
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How bad is it in Wales? Pretty bad. This weekend, 73 players will be absent from the regional scene because of injuries, suspensions and international calls.
The Ospreys are missing 24 squad members — 13 to Wales, 11 injured. The Scarlets are minus 22, Cardiff are without 16 and the Dragons 11.
Injuries are part of sport and unavoidable, while Test rugby is crucial to the financing of the sport. But it doesn’t make life easy for Toby Booth, Dwayne Peel, Dai Young and Dai Flanagan, the respective coaches at the Ospreys, Scarlets, Cardiff and the Dragons.
Booth was asked this week about the structure of the season. “What do I think about it? It’s challenging, but it’s challenging being an international coach because you want time with players," he replied. “So I do understand it’s difficult. We all have agendas that don’t fit, which is unfortunate.
“I don’t think you can plan for having such a number of players in the Wales set-up that we have. That’s probably a bit of a shock. We’re victims of our own success in that respect with the number we have this time.
“A couple have come out of leftfield that we didn’t see, which makes it more challenging. It’s also about the ability to prepare, to prepare against the same intensity and the same physicality that you require to go toe to toe with URC opposition. That’s what you can’t do. You can’t mimic that. If you’re training against your academy and transition players, you just can’t deliver that physicality. That’s fine for a one-off. But if you look at November and heading into our games in South Africa that’s going to be very challenging."
A restructuring of the season, maybe? Some would like it.
The Ospreys team boss didn’t go as far as say he would want the Six Nations pushed back, but he stressed how much sympathy he felt for fans at the regions, who are twice a season denied the chance to see some of the best players in regional action due to international blocks in mid-campaign.
“Where I feel sorry is on the commercial side because a lot of the unavailability manifests itself in fans not being able to go and watch their favourite players," Booth added. "People want competitive games as much as often and they want to see international players live. So they miss out and we miss out from a performance point of view.”
It’s over to the head coaches, then, to attempt to get the best out of severely depleted playing groups. Theirs is not an easy task.
Here is the full list of players unavailable to the four Welsh professional sides this weekend:
Ospreys (24 players off limits)
Unavailable because of injury (11): Dan Evans, Will Griffiths, Sam Cross, Bradley Davies, Will Hickey, Harri Morgan, Sam Moore, Mat Protheroe, Stephen Myler, Rhys Webb, Dewi Lake.
Unavailable because of international commitments (13): Nicky Smith, Gareth Thomas, Tomas Francis, Adam Beard, Alun Wyn Jones, Dan Lydiate, Jac Morgan, Justin Tipuric, Gareth Anscombe, Joe Hawkins, Owen Watkin, George North, Alex Cuthbert.
Scarlets (22 players off limits)
Unavailable because of injury/suspension (15): Sam Lousi, Vaea Fifita, Wyn Jones, Scott Williams, Blade Thomson, Johnny Williams, Ioan Nicholas, Tomás Lezana, Phil Price, Lewis Rawlins, Joe Roberts, Carwyn Tuipulotu, Callum Williams, Samson Lee, Griff Evans.
Unavailable because of international commitments (7): Ken Owens, Ryan Elias, Josh Macleod, Sam Costelow, Dane Blacker, Leigh Halfpenny, Kieran Hardy.
Cardiff (16 players off limits)
Unavailable because of injury (11): Kristian Dacey, Seb Davies, Matthew Screech, Shane Lewis-Hughes, Josh Navidi, Willis Halaholo, Rey Lee-Lo, Owen Lane, Liam Williams, Jacob Beetham, Matthew Morgan.
Unavailable because of international commitments (5): Dillon Lewis, Taulupe Faletau, Tomos Williams, Rhys Priestland, Josh Adams.
Dragons (11 players off limits)
Unavailable because of injury (6): Leon Brown (neck), Lennon Greggains (finger), Ashton Hewitt (ankle), George Nott (hand), Sio Tomkinson (knock), Jordan Williams (leg).
Unavailable because of international commitments (5): Ben Carter, Rio Dyer, Rhodri Jones, Bradley Roberts, Will Rowlands.
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