Loose Pass: Welsh woes and Australian agony

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This week we will mostly be concerning ourselves with the club v country issues in Wales and Rugby Australia’s unrelenting PR problems…

Red sky in the morning…

So Wales are playing the Barbarians on Saturday. Yippee. Why? Beyond perhaps a little fund-raising, we don’t know.

The Welsh squad is pretty thin as it is after the attrition of the World Cup. The regions are struggling in all sectors. Only the Scarlets look remotely like qualifying for Europe via the PRO14 at the moment, while the sole representatives in this season’s European Cup were given a thorough shellacking last weekend. And, come to think of it, the weekend before that. It’s little wonder Ospreys’ head coach Allen Clarke was reportedly relieved of his duties on Tuesday, even if the feeling is that he is being scapegoated for a number of problems not of his causing.

Cardiff Blues, meanwhile, in anticipation of a possible home PRO14 final, have started by winning two from six. Both squads have suffered from budget cuts, with the Ospreys looking unbalanced in particular.

Elsewhere in Wales, the squads are at least cheerful. The Dragons are moving in the right direction under Dean Ryan and the same goes for the Scarlets under Brad Mooar after Wayne Pivac’s departure. There are many good young players emerging and the results from the U20 side are encouraging considering the small player pool.

But this meaningless fixture, while swelling the bank accounts a little and maybe allowing Pivac’s players a practical glimpse of his ideas for the national team, is not going to do any of the regions a favour. It’s even more game-time for players who must be beyond knackered, more time away from their regional team-mates and systems, more weekends where the regions will be forced to battle on with inexperienced youngsters playing seasoned internationals in front of either sparse home crowds or gleeful away crowds revelling in another handsome win.

And despite the emerging talent, Pivac has already caused a little consternation by picking a pair of residency-qualified players for the Baa-baas match rather than homegrown options.

Warren Gatland’s biggest struggle during his remarkable tenure at the Welsh helm was balancing the sub-international structures. Even by his admission, the current situation is flawed – indeed, had he not been so successful there might have been revolt long before now.

Pivac will have to continue that struggle as his era dawns, and the growing feeling is that this shovelled-in international fixture, largely to the detriment of the regions, has not been the best start to that struggle.

Australia’s nice face still struggling to emerge

Does anybody envy Raelene Castle? No sooner than Dave Rennie is appointed – by all accounts a shrewd PR choice after the thunderstorm era of Michael Cheika – and an aura of calm looks to descend on Australian rugby than two outsized problems pop up their head.

One is a familiar old foe: Israel Folau is after A$14m rather than the reported 10 for his ‘loss of earnings’ from his contract cancellation earlier this year. He asks for this barely two weeks after linking the catastrophic bushfires in Australia to divine punishment for legalisation of same-sex marriages and decriminalising abortion.

The second, rather more complicated one, concerns an 11-year-old in Sydney who was reduced to tears when told minutes before kick-off in a tournament – in the fifth of its eight-week run – that he was too big to play for his team.

Leonidus’ team refused to play out of solidarity, officially forfeiting the game to cheers from the fans of the winning team – upon whose faces utter confusion was notably etched.

The New South Wales Union has uttered all the usual soundbites about communication and hindsight, but it’s not good PR for 20-odd youngsters to not play a game for reasons beyond their comprehension.

And then, of course, there are still matters from the World Cup to clear up – matters of conduct for which Ms. Castle apparently felt compelled to write a letter of apology to World Rugby.

If it was an easy job, everybody would do it, but we’re not envious of anybody who tries to steer Australia’s ship at the moment.

Loose Pass compiled by Lawrence Nolan

Australia