Jackson column: The hidden Wales aces making life tough for regions

Long before social distancing became a way of life, a similar exercise had been foisted upon the four Welsh regions in relation to their international players. The idea, to keep them more than an arm’s length from the paying customers when not on duty for Team Wales, has cottoned on to such an extent that it has reduced some of the biggest names in the PRO14 to varying degrees of invisibility.

The bare facts point to the Welsh rugby squad going the way of English cricket where the chosen few conserve their energy for the Test arena to the exclusion of just about anything else. Joe Root & co probably squeeze in more four-day appearances for their counties over a season than most of Wales’ leading rugby players have managed for their regions since September.

The suspension of the PRO14 as part of sport’s global closure, admittedly makes the figures look even more emaciated but they would have been alarming enough had the campaign not been stopped by Covid-19. The number against each player’s name denotes the sum total of his starts in the PRO14 this season.

For season-ticket holders and those trying to make ends meet at Cardiff Blues, Dragons, Ospreys and Scarlets, they make grim reading.

0 – Alun-Wyn Jones, Gareth Anscombe (both Ospreys), Jonathan Davies, James Davies, Rhys Patchell (all Scarlets), Dillon Lewis, Ellis Jenkins (both Blues).

1 – George North (Ospreys).

2 – Ross Moriarty, Elliott Dee (both Dragons), Josh Navidi (Blues), Owen Watkin (Ospreys).

3 – Justin Tipuric (Ospreys), Aaron Wainwright (Dragons), Ken Owens, Wyn Jones, Jake Ball, Gareth Davies, Hadleigh Parkes, Leigh Halfpenny (all Scarlets), Tomos Williams, Josh Adams (both Blues).

5 – Hallam Amos (Blues), Aaron Shingler (Scarlets).

Maybe it’s just as well that the Welsh Rugby Union funds four-fifths of every national contract, not that the regions’ 20 per cent looks a shrewd enough investment to make Mark Carney think he missed a trick during his time running the Bank of England.

Even with European matches added to the equation, the imbalance in terms of Wales v The Regions has never been more pronounced. Jones, a captain whose devotion to the Ospreys’ cause has never been questioned and never will, has played twice for his home-town team this season and 13 times for Wales.

In between the World Cup ending and the Six Nations starting, injury restricted him to two starts for the Ospreys, the Champions Cup ties against Saracens and Munster in January. As if losing their best for hefty chunks of the season is not bad enough, the regions are often left to pick up the pieces.

Gareth Anscombe, Jonathan ‘Fox’ Davies, little brother James, alias ‘Cubby Boi’, and Rhys Patchell all returned from national service with their regional season effectively written off before it could begin.

The Blues also suffered in respect of Josh Navidi but not to the same extent.

Again it is no criticism of Navidi that Blues fans have seen him only three times at regional level this season; twice in the PRO14, once in Europe.

His fellow back row forward Ellis Jenkins is still out almost 18 months after smashing a knee in the last seconds against the Springboks in November 2018.

While the regions can justifiably moan about seeing so little of their internationals, Northampton can have no such complaints in respect of Dan Biggar. Nobody has had to shoulder a heavier load for Wales and yet the fearless fly-half has still been able to play nine matches for the Saints in the Premiership and Champions Cup.

Biggar has been the busiest of the World Cup squad by a distance with a total of 22 appearances for country and club. Far from suffering as a consequence, he has thrived in making himself all the better in every sense for his relocation to the East Midlands.

A few Irish players have also been hard to spot on the domestic front but too few to come anywhere close to the numbers in Wales.

Johnny Sexton has not made a single appearance in the PRO14 but then that’s nothing new given Leinster‘s luxury of being able to cruise through most of the season without their superstars.

Munster have had to make do with Conor Murray and Keith Earls making one start apiece. In defence of both players, they, too, have been handicapped by injury.

That the knock-on effect of so many high-profile players missing so much of the regional season should be reflected in too many poor results is no coincidence.

Shrinking attendances lend further credence for those who argue that Wales simply cannot afford four fully professional teams, especially when they are having to compete with a fifth team – Wales.

In an attempt to ensure that more of their big guns appeared more often, PRO14 chief executive Martin Anayi and its then president, Gerald Davies, made a valiant attempt to relocate the Six Nations by shifting it to the end of the season, thus freeing their tournament from further Test match interference.

The move was doomed to fall on deaf ears and now the big guns are missing in action even more often.

Even Liverpool would be hard pushed to sell season-tickets if they came with a warning that Salah, Sane, Firmino and van Dijk would only play a handful of games.

PETER JACKSON