More-vember

There is little doubt, as the current Autumnal series stutters to an all-too-predictable crescendo, something is missing here in Wales. It is deeper than the annual defeats to Australia and New Zealand and the torpid plod against a Tier 2 side, as an aside just how terrific were the Georgian pack? If we are being honest, however fervently we sing the anthem or sit patiently waiting for Twitter to update with team news, following Wales has taken on a tired and crushing banality. Too ubiquitous, too smothering, too ordinary and too predictable to be anything else. Wales rugby team has become a synonym for normal, bland and vanilla.

It doesn’t need to be this way. There is a way of invigorating November, there is a way of giving supporters matches that connect with them and chime in a way that the national team is not currently best placed to achieve. This is not to suggest that rugby in Wales is binary, Wales is too small for any real sense of division - this works on many levels including ‘pathway to professional’. It is possible to generate an interesting, vibrant and engaging November series. It just needs the Unions to give a little, to understand the ground they stand on is built on layers and crucially from a Welsh perspective not to involve the Principality Stadium every weekend in November.

To start with a fairly bland statement of the fairly obvious: consideration needs to be made to protect the appeal of the professional teams in Wales. This goes beyond throwing a few million pounds at the 4 teams, ensuring entry to tournaments that allow survival and a few stories on a website. This is not really about what makes supporters support their team but what can the governing body, with a responsibility for all layers of the game in Wales, do to protect and enhance the level that feeds the national squad. There are of course several questions that need answering and it would need an essay or three to cover them. For now there are two principal areas of consideration that may help focus attention.

·        Could the WRU offer matches against touring sides in November?

·        Could the professional teams compete with touring sides? 

The short answer to the first question is, ‘yes of course they could’. The WRU could enter into a dialogue with SANZAR about matches against the 4 professional sides. This is not suggesting that New Zealand for example would play all 4 on the same tour but certainly approaches should be made for one game on tour, in mid week before the Test match on the Saturday. It would be a case of ‘don’t ask don’ get’.. Imagine the week before the Test, rather than the usual routine of press conferences and everyone saying nicer and nicer things about each other, a game was there for reputations to be enhanced, form to be rediscovered and a real bite and interest for all – by all supporters, players and media are included. Imagine how refreshing it would be for New Zealand, Australian or South African players to experience the relative intimacy of the four grounds, facing players trying to prove a point, not in a local hero way but by playing in a way that makes it clear the pitch isn’t all theirs. 60,000 screaming Turks, Jacks, Gwentists and Cardiffians (and probably others from everywhere else) all extolling the virtue of their acre, far more Welsh, far more earthy far more hostile than the manicured Principality Stadium and its fireworked theatre.

Yes there would be a dip in income as the WRU would lose a Test but as the debt is slowly coming down to an operational level, is there a degree of latitude for the Union to try something different? In endeavouring to arrange these matches it would show the WRU enhancing and valuing its professional level, ahead of the curve, recognising the history of these fixtures and their place in the folklore of both Welsh supporter psyche and it is not hyperbole to suggest the SANZAR players too. It would show the WRU trying to provide a vibrant landscape for players and supporters to cultivate and harness to facilitate memories and the capturing of minds. 

As a Cardiff supporter a game against New Zealand, Australia or South Africa at the Arms Park would be rugby caffeine. 11,000 supporters crammed onto the Terraces and Stands, talk of matches from yesterday, talk of the game to come would fill the evening air. It would be an event. Hopefully without the fireworks and plant pot beer glasses, without the 20 visits to the bar that half. It is almost compellingly romantic and supporters of the Scarlets, Ospreys and Gwent would surely be similarly enthused. One note of caution we do not want any repeat of the Australian game at Leckwith a lifetime ago - depleted side, depleted crowd and let's face it a serious debate about whether it should really enter the record books.  (OK, OK it should)

Here though a challenge: some of the disarmingly labelled ‘fringe players’ usually spend November holding tackle bags and advising colleagues where they are on the training field; is it only in Wales we have professional bag holders and shouters? Nice yet frustrating job if you can get it. Other players of course are injured and need matches to get back to pace. Surely the Welsh coaches would welcome an opportunity for players who are not selected for the Test matches or need minutes on the field? Surely by playing in these matches sharpness can be honed, skills tested and confidence gained? However intense training is it cannot replicate the ebb and flow of a game. It can be advocated however plaintively the result that all teams should have their best players available should these fixtures happen – this directly leads to the second question: competitiveness. 

There is no doubt that in places Welsh rugby has the depth of a Saharan puddle in August, in playing SANZAR teams shorn of the better players it would surely result in banal platitudes and a litany of lessons learnt. Who is to say that by being at full strength would be any different? It would certainly be a brave suggestion but crucially matches as these would allow players to experience a real step change in opposition, the national coaches to view players in more intimate comfortable surroundings and allow supporters something to look forward to, be engaged by and share a thousand memories in its aftermath – matches that matter are like fresh air and walks on the beach; there is no such thing as too many. In short, if these matches could be scheduled they would create the vibrancy the Pro14 does not yet offer. The group stages of the European competitions or the derby matches are unable to currently offer similar intrigue and questions. The matches would be a fill-up for the coffers, a boon for marketing teams, a match that could fairly be claimed as a ‘must-see’ and a test for the players; it all sounds very much like a win-win. 

In the final analysis making rugby in Wales vibrant and different will ensure its future on a crowded platform. Already boredom and despair has begun its creep across the landscape like evening shadows and as supporters want matches to mean something, players need to be driven by a desire to test themselves not only against common foes but those who walk and think a little differently. November is the month men are encouraged grow moustaches to support efforts to beat cancer, it could also be the time to show the appropriate anatomical fortitude, proving size isn’t everything and its not what you’ve got its how you use it that is important.