Here’s what’s become of the Welsh rugby players tipped for the very top before things went wrong
“No one will pay good money to get from Berlin to Potsdam in one hour when he can ride his horse there for free,” suggested King William I of Prussia back in 1864, commenting on trains.
History shows that not many are galloping the route these days. They prefer to throw barely five euros at the problem and let the train do the rest.
Predictions? They don’t always work out well.
But plenty are willing to make them.
Over the years any number have tipped young players to come through and prove themselves something special.
Sometimes the forecast works out.
But not always.
MARK ORDERS looks at those who were tipped for the very top, only for the script to go wrong.
Kristian Phillips
He had the ‘wow’ factor coming through the ranks.
In 2003 he was at the centre of a row after an English public school tried to poach him. Dulwich College made an approach to the then 13-year-old after a game that saw him score five tries for Ysgol Gyfun Ystalyfera as they beat the London team 65-10.
The head teacher of Dulwich College later apologised for the approach, putting it down to the “over-enthusiasm” of a young sports master there.
Phillips turned it down, anyway.
He went on to play for Wales through the age-grades and fairly lit up the Welsh Premiership with Neath, his devastating finishing to the fore. In 2009 he was called up by Wales after just seven games for the Ospreys but a senior cap eluded him.
There followed spells with the Scarlets, London Welsh and Bath, with a second stint at the Ospreys mixed in.
But Wales never summoned him again.
Easy to deal with and a nice guy, he told The Rugby Paper last year: “There was a little feeling of unfulfillment about never getting that senior cap because it is every kid’s dream growing up in Wales to play for the national team. And having played for the U16s, 18s and 20s and it would have made for a lovely moment.”
He went into a career as a personal trainer after bowing out as a player because of injury.
Jordan Williams
Another one who could light up the greyest of days as a youngster.
The story of Sean Fitzpatrick breezing into a Sky Sports studio shouting “Christian Cullen! He reminds me of Christian Cullen” after watching Williams playing at the Junior World Championship in 2013 has been told a number of times.
Here we had a player who could look up at the ranks of massed defenders in front of him, spot a gap that didn’t appear there to anyone else and surge through it with a jink or five and an injection of searing pace.
“If he doesn’t come through, we may as well all leave it there,” a figure involved in age-grade development in Wales told this writer at the time.
He did come through, to the extent that he made the Wales squad in 2014.
But he didn’t win a cap on the tour of South Africa and he hasn’t really come close to one since, from the time he began to fall out of favour at the Scarlets amid Wayne Pivac raising concerns about his defensive game.
A stint with Bristol followed before a return to Wales with the Dragons.
He has had injuries along the way but remains a runner capable of opening any defence.
Matthew Morgan
It’s much the same story for Matthew Morgan, similarly diminutive and similarly wonderful to watch in full-flight.
When he featured in an age-grade match back in the day, an image of him was used to promote the game with the tag-line: “Every legend has a beginning.”
Morgan was breaking through as a fly-half then, with clips of his length-of-the-field tries for Swansea regularly featuring on Scrum V in their Premiership highlights section. He had quick feet, flaring acceleration and was rapid over both short and long distances, a headache for even the best defender.
In 2010 he outshone future England No. 10 George Ford in an Anglo-Welsh Cup match in Bridgend, inspiring the Ospreys to victory over Leicester Tigers. Morgan scored one try and set up two more in the rain. What was there to dislike?
There were some who felt he was a 50-cap player in the making.
But it hasn’t happened.
Nor has it come close to happening.
Morgan has started just once for Wales.
There have been four other caps, but Warren Gatland confessed that his heart was in his mouth when Morgan ran from deep in his own 22 in a vital World Cup game against Fiji in 2015. He didn’t pick Morgan again and nor has Wayne Pivac looked his way.
But adventure is hard-wired into Morgan’s game.
As with Williams, he can be a dazzling attacker who delights supporters.
As with Williams, he can miss tackles.
In another era, both players may have won far more caps.
But at this time their best moments have come away from the international arena.
Harry Robinson
“Watch Harry Robinson.”
Those were the final words from Shane Williams after the legendary wing left the mixed zone at the Principality Stadium in the wake of playing for the Barbarians against Wales with Robinson having lined up for the side in red jerseys.
It was Robinson’s Test debut.
Compact and quick, with the ability to step past defenders, Robinson he seemed out of the same mould as Williams. Two more Wales caps followed.
But a serious neck injury ended his playing career prematurely.
He was just 23.
The former Cardiff Blues and Scarlets player went on to start a new career as a financial adviser .
You can read his story here.
Pick your greatest Wales XV now
Gareth Owen
Lyn Jones rated the versatile back as one of the most naturally talented players he had guided during a long coaching career when the pair were at the Ospreys.
He was man of the match when Wales beat France to finish second in the 2008 U20s Six Nations. Wales had Leigh Halfpenny, Jonathan Davies, Dan Biggar, Rhys Webb and Justin Tipuric on view that day, but it was Owen who walked off with the player-of-the-day gong.
Scott Johnson lauded the Maesteg product, too, likening him to Gavin Henson.
“Gareth reminds me so much of Gavin, physically as much as anything," said the then Ospreys rugby director.
"He's the olive kid, well-built and a great athlete. He's probably a bit more explosive than Gav.
"You can't put in what God left out and he was at the front of the queue when they handed out athletic gifts. He has an amazing turn of speed and physical presence."
Orthopaedic issues knocked Owen off course, though.
Picked for Wales’ tour of north America in 2009, the emerging Osprey had to withdraw through injury, denying him a potential cap.
A knock to one of his knees subsequently threatened to end his career, but he made it back. Spells with the Scarlets, Leicester Tigers and Newcastle Falcons unfolded thereafter.
The last time this writer spoke with him he said of his career: “I’ve had brilliant times wherever I’ve played.
“The injuries haven’t helped, but those are the cards you are dealt and you just have to do your best to make the best of them.
“I wouldn’t swap what I’ve experienced.
“I played in a Magners League-title winning squad with the Ospreys and in an EDF Energy Cup final at Twickenham. I was also part of the Scarlets set-up when they won the PRO12 title in 2016-17.
“Then there are the outstanding players I have played alongside, including Matt Toomua, Manu Tuilagi and Kyle Eastmond at Leicester, Jonathan Davies, Hadleigh Parkes and Scott Williams at the Scarlets, and James Hook, Mike Phillips, Jerry Collins, Marty Holah, Justin Marshall and countless others at the Ospreys.
"Every player would wish he'd stayed fit over his career.
“But it doesn’t work out like that and you just have to accept it and enjoy the times when you are fit.
“Definitely, that’s what I’ve done.”
It’s an attitude that does him huge credit.
Dafydd Howells
Shaun Edwards spotted him playing in an age-grade competition in Grenoble and was so impressed he rang Neath coach Patrick Horgan to enthuse over what he’d seen.
Edwards was blown away by Howells’ speed and elusive running.
“He seemed to have another gear,” one of those watching that day later noted.
Weeks later Howells was scoring a scorcher of a touchdown for Neath against Pontypridd in the Welsh Cup final — “no-one else on the pitch could have scored that try,” ex-Ospreys coach Lyn Jones said the following Monday.
His year to remember also featured two Wales caps at the age of 18, against Japan, but injuries subsequently piled up for Howells.
His quality hasn't been forgotten by his old coach Horgan, who also guided the golden Wales U20s side of 2008 which contained Leigh Halfpenny, Sam Warbuton, Dan Biggar, Rhys Webb and Jonathan Davies.
In 2013, Horgan said of Howells: “I would say he is every bit the player Leigh Halfpenny was during the 2008 tournament.”
But the rugby gods weren’t kind to the kid that Edwards lauded eight years ago.
He dropped down a grade of rugby at the age of 26 this summer, after multiple injuries. He is now with Ebbw Vale.
Rory Thornton
He was Wales U20s captain and seen as the man most likely to come through and take over as Alun Wyn Jones’ long-term second-row successor in the Wales senior set-up.
Adam Beard was viewed as promising as well.
But, initially, more attention was focused on the 6ft 7in Thornton.
With his affable personality, he came across as a good communicator and more than one coach felt he was a natural leader. He was also an excellent lineout operator and athletic in the loose.
But after winning one cap in 2017, he’s found the door to the Test team closed to him. The odd untimely injury hasn’t helped him.
He isn’t a bone-crusher who will take on opposition packs on his own.
But, at 26, he still has time to deliver on his side.
It is up to him to make the improvements those who pick the national side want.
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