Peter Jackson’s column: Let’s hope Warren Gatland won’t take a kicking
They had crackshots all round – James Hook for the short and medium range goals, Leigh Halfpenny for long-distance and, on the bench, Stephen Jones, a veteran of more than a thousand goals of all description.
Against France that fateful evening when one goal would have been enough, they all missed – Hook in the first half, Halfpenny in the second and Jones as a substitute without firing a shot despite a drop-goal begging to be taken during the frantic finale.
Another time, another place and all three would have gone over.
Nobody could fault the Welsh management then for not covering all the bases. The same cannot be said of the same management now.
Never can a contender have gone into a World Cup as light in the goalkicking department as Wales, not out of necessity but out of choice.
In their prospective starting team against England at Twickenham in 13 days’ time, Dan Biggar assumes greater importance as the No.1 kicker. As a near 90 per cent merchant, he fits into the same ballpark as Halfpenny without yet being able to show on the Test stage that his range extends beyond 50 metres.
Now Wales would be entitled to think they have been dealt enough cruel blows to last them for the rest of the season but they will have asked themselves the nagging question: what if Biggar, every bit as fearless as Halfpenny, were to suffer the same fate?
In that event, the responsibility for place-kicking would fall on Rhys Priestland.
He would not claim to be in the same Premier Division as Halfpenny or Biggar but Wales, or rather Warren Gatland, has decided he can get by on the bare bones.
The only other kicker in his 31, Matthew Morgan, is such a Test novice that he has not been on the pitch long enough to take a shot at goal. He has not struck one since his club, Bristol, won at Plymouth in early April, the ex-Osprey having spent most of the season watching his compatriots, Nicky Robinson and Gavin Henson, monopolise the tee.
When Gatland named his original 47-man squad, he had seven goalkickers – Halfpenny, Biggar, Priestland, Hook, Gareth Anscombe, Rhys Patchell and Morgan. Over the space of a few weeks, he has lost, or contrived to lose, more than half of them, starting with Patchell’s predictable failure to make the first cut.
Hook, surprise, surprise, was the first major casualty, declared surplus to requirements by Wales for the umpteenth time. No sooner had Gareth Anscombe beaten him to the third fly-half position than the dual-contracted New Zealander found that he, too, had been ruled out because of injury.
Instead of reinstating Hook, Gatland opted for Morgan. Halfpenny’s cruel fate suggested that the door shut firmly in Hook’s face a few weeks earlier might have been prised ajar if only for his
ability to kick goals from full-back and centre as well as stand-off.
The choice this time, of the uncapped Osprey Eli Walker, means Wales go into the tournament with one specialist
full-back, Liam Williams – a player who has spent the summer recovering from metatarsal surgery.
Walker, earmarked for stardom from an early age, knows all about the outrageous slings of fortune, having endured more than his share of injury.
His selection as the fourth wing could be interpreted as one too many or a tacit admission of concern over Alex Cuthbert’s inability to deliver.
The case for Hallam Amos starting on the left wing against the hopeless Uruguayans next Sunday is stronger now than before the dreadful Italian job last week.
Unless Walker is pitched straight in before the serious work beginning with England, it is difficult to see how, or where, he will get game-time, unless by default.
Welsh resources remain threadbare at centre where the unproven Cory Allen remains the only alternative to Scott Williams and Jamie Roberts. Clearly, that was not considered sufficient reason to recall Hook as much as an emergency centre as anything else.
Recent World Cup history shows that even the very best can never have enough goalkickers. The All Blacks lost Dan Carter, Colin Slade and Aaron Cruden in rapid succession four years ago and staggered home thanks to a penalty from the fourth-choice Stephen Donald.
Every other close World Cup final has been won by kickers – Michael Lynagh (Australia, 1991), Joel Stransky (South Africa, 1995), Jonny Wilkinson (England, 2003), Percy Montgomery (South Africa, 2007).
Sometimes the gods exact their own cruel punishment when they suspect a team of taking a liberty.
England started against Australia at Twickenham 11 years ago with two kickers, Henry Paul and Charlie Hodgson, only to end up with neither – Paul because he had been substituted embarrassingly early, Hodgson because of injury.
They duly lost by two points.
