If feedback is the breakfast of champions, as a famous business consultant once suggested, then Taine Basham was treated to a hearty offering in a sit-down with Wayne Pivac after the Six Nations.
We’ll call it a full Welsh. Basham went from being Wales’ player of the series during the autumn and their top performer in the Six Nations opener against Ireland to being left out completely for the final two games of the championship, against France and Italy.
He could have been forgiven for feeling a spot of anxiety over his demotion, but the player who would have been a plasterer had he not made it as a rugby player isn’t the type who worries. At 22, Basham has time on his side.
READ MORE: WRU finally break silence on Six Nations flop under Pivac
“I felt pretty good after the first couple of games of the Six Nations — Ireland and Scotland were decent outings for me,” he said. “Then there were experienced players coming back into the squad and a few errors crept into my game.
“At my age, I'm working on those errors and my graft. It's nothing worrying and I will just keep working hard and hopefully I will be back out there in the summer. I sat down with Wayne after not being involved towards the end of the championship. It was an open and honest chat and fairly positive, considering I didn’t play in the final two matches.
“I still keep in contact with the likes of Wales contact area coach Gareth Williams after regional games, so I am still in the picture.”
Asked what had Pivac said to him, Basham replied: “There are a few errors creeping into my game…just keep on working at my craft. I’m only 22 and still learning the game. I don’t want to lose sight of that. But over the next couple of seasons, maybe that’s when I will become the finished article.”
Fair play to the Dragon for recognising that no rugby player is the complete deal at such a young age. He has made huge leaps forward over the past eight months, with one writer naming him in his world team of the autumn.
Maybe Basham’s effort for the Dragons against Connacht in October was the best regional performance by a Welsh player this season, seeing the openside dominate the game from start to finish. There were important turnovers, big hits and power-packed carries that pounded would-be tacklers backwards.
Afterwards, former Ireland international Mike McCarthy said of Basham: “He was an absolute beast.” You can read more about the youngster's performance that day here.
Dragons team boss Dean Ryan is looking to the Gwent product to play his normal game as he tries to battle back from his Six Nations ups and downs. “He needs to come back and be Taine, because that is what got him there in the first place,” said Ryan.
“He needs to grow the things that he has learnt from the international game. It's something that you'll look back on in two years when you have either used it as a positive or you have sat in the doldrums. It's not easy and every young man that goes quickly will have an experience that takes the shine off something.
“We will support him in using those experiences lessons for the good, working out what people want from him. He can learn from playing some of the best in the world and seeing what he needs to work on.”
The certainty is Basham’s mental toughness will stand him in good stead. Such steeliness was evident in the way he approached Wales’ game with New Zealand last October. Making his first Test start, he could easily have been daunted about facing such opponents, but he tore into the All Blacks from the start, achieved a couple of turnovers and put in 15 tackles as well as making ground as a carrier.
Such an experience and others that followed have, believes Basham, made him a better player. “I had appearances off the bench in the summer, but being chucked in against the All Blacks was my first really big experience of international rugby,” he said.
“As Wayne said, I played a few big games, I’ve learned a lot of lessons and I’ve made big strides from there. So I’d say I’ve improved as a player.”
Basham relished the chance to face New Zealand, saying: “It’s about having the mindset that the bigger the stage, the bigger the learnings and the bigger achievements that might come out of it. As a player you thrive on the big games.”
He’s now back on the regional scene with the Dragons facing the Scarlets in the United Rugby Championship in Llanelli on Saturday evening. The west Walians are in form and will start as hot favourites against opponents who haven’t won since Basham’s exploits against Connacht seven months ago, but Ryan's team have their Wales players back and will be determined to give a good account of themselves.
“For the calibre of players we have, one win for the season isn’t good enough,” said Basham. “As players we have to stick together and rather than chasing a win, we have to chase a performance that deserves a win. It is difficult, but the boys are putting in the graft and we all want to win every game we play.
“I like playing at Parc y Scarlets, even though I broke my arm there last time.”
As the only regional game of the weekend, the match will attract plenty of attention and provide an opportunity for players to put their hands up. For Basham, it will be a chance to remind people of his considerable talents.
Watch out for him. He won’t be far away from the action. He rarely is.
