“They think it’s all over…it is now,” Kenneth Wolstenholme famously declared, in the process uttering one of sporting commentary’s most famous lines.
Pretty much all of us have heard it — of course we have.
But were Wolsteholme commenting on Welsh rugby this autumn, he might be moved to suggest that a number of players very definitely don’t think it’s all over.
Read more : Sunday rugby news on Cardiff statement as Halfpenny and Costelow put down markers
Wherever you looked over the weekend, there were players of a more mature vintage doing what they could to impress in the final auditions that were taking place for Wales squad places this autumn.
We’ll leave the 37-year-old Alun Wyn Jones and the 34-year-old Dan Lydiate out of this, as the pair featured for Wayne Pivac’s team in the summer and so had ample opportunity to remind the head coach of their qualities. As an aside, though, it needs to be noted that Jones, in particular, has started the season bang in form, bringing attitude and physicality to his performances.
Against Glasgow Warriors and against the Stormers, he has played with the enthusiasm of a teenager.
But he wasn’t alone in trying to show his best.
There was also a core of fellow Welsh rugby stalwarts who were on missions to give Pivac late nudges, with a number of them making their way back after injuries.
To a greater or lesser extent, Jonathan Davies, Rhys Webb, Scott Williams, Leigh Halfpenny, Scott Baldwin and Ken Owens all had their moments in their United Rugby Championship games.
Every one of them showed experience counts.
Let's start with Jonathan Davies , He’d had a difficult start to the campaign to the point where some had begun to sell shares in him. “Not the Foxy of old,” more than a few were saying.
But not many were saying that after his effort for the Scarlets against Zebre on Saturday evening.
The Italians had a young full-back in Lorenzo Pani who threatened virtually every time he had the ball and their fly-half, Geronimo Prisciantelli, also wasn’t short of the ability to create. Potentially, matters could have gone badly wrong for the west Walians, especially after they had blindside flanker Sam Lousi sent off for a dangerous tackle 12 minutes into the second half.
But Davies held the side together as captain.
He had earlier scored a try and he not only maintained a good standard throughout but improved as the match wore on, finishing with one jarring tackle that proved the cue for a counter-ruck turnover and then producing a lovely piece of skill to finish off the Italians.
Collecting the ball around the opposition 22, Davies ran left before looking up, assessing his options and then putting in a slide-rule grubber kick for Ryan Conbeer to score in the corner. It was a moment of vision and class.
The display from the 34-year-old was loaded with a quality coaches tend to value — character. Davies hadn’t been at his best in the early weeks of the season, but he responded to adversity.
It doesn’t automatically follow he’ll regain his Wales squad place. But it does mean he’ll figure in Pivac’s deliberations as the coach inks in the final few names.
Ditto Scott Williams ? His situation is slightly different in that he was playing his first game of the season over the weekend, but his passing was sublime. He had a hand in two of the home tries, the first scored by Sam Costelow after a laser-guided flat delivery from Williams to Sam Lousi.
The 32-year-old also helped hold up a Zebre attacker over the Scarlets’ line, in the process hurting his own arm. How bad that bump is we don’t know as yet.
But Williams’ overall display was laced with quality. You can read more about him here.
Maybe he really needed to return earlier, to provide further evidence for Pivac to digest.
Whatever, the Scarlets will have been pleased to see him back on the field.
The same goes for Leigh Halfpenny and Ken Owens .
In a perfect world, maybe Halfpenny would be left to bank more minutes on the field before resuming with Wales. He has, after all, only just returned from 15 months out with a career-threatening knee injury.
But with Liam Williams sidelined, Wales are short of a specialist full-back with bags of experience. The good news for Pivac is that against Zebre Halfpenny took another step forward. He was calm and assured in all he did. Not the stuff of headlines or news flashes, perhaps, but the Wales selectors would have enjoyed the solidity Gorseinon’s finest brought to the table in conditions that were on the wrong side of appalling.
Owens spent almost as long on the sidelines as Halfpenny as he recovered from a back problem. It’s his very presence that’s key with him: when he plays, those around him lift their games. Call it leadership, if you like, but some players have that effect. Even without wearing the armband, if Owens had proposed a post-match visit to the cinema on Saturday to take in Donald Duck The Movie, the expectation would be that a few team-mates might have signed up for it.
There is no shortage of quality hookers available to Wales right now, among them Ryan Elias, Dewi Lake and Bradley Roberts, who had a strong game for the Dragons against Cardiff, but none has Owens’ experience built up over 12 years of Test rugby. It will be intriguing to see how much weight Pivac attaches to such matters.
It isn’t just the Scarlets who had a golden brigade looking to remind the national coach of their qualities in round five of the URC, mind.
The Ospreys also had Rhys Webb and Scott Baldwin .
In conditions so bad at the Swansea.com Stadium on Friday evening there was mild concern at one point that the entire north car park had floated away, Webb controlled matters against opposition who had come into the game with 14 straight wins. His kicking was good, he was a terrier in defence and he played to the conditions. You can read about the famous Rhys Webb wink that caused an on-pitch eruption here.
There are plenty who believe Wales’ three World Cup scrum-halves are set in stone in the shape of Tomos Williams, Kieran Hardy and Gareth Davies.
But this was Webb disputing the issue.
At the very least he’s given Pivac a fourth option.
And then there was Baldwin, back in Welsh rugby after a stint in England.
He's the long shot in this group and he didn’t have much time to show his worth against the Stormers, but whenever he has played this term he’s made a mark and he did so again by going over from a driving maul after coming on as a replacement.
None of the above are ready to go quietly into Test rugby’s good night.
And Josh Turnbull has delivered consistently for Cardiff.
Quite how many will make Pivac’s squad on Tuesday remains to be seen.
But, as the saying goes, it’s not all over until the heavily-built lady sings.
Over the weekend, for a select group of players, it was hard to detect her even gargling in preparation.
For those, age is no concern.
Let’s see how the selectors view it.
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