Can you add Dan Biggar to the pod, please. Not all players make good or very good presenters. He is able to be unbiased,giving a view from both his heart, and head.
Love how honestly Dan talks. Him and Sam as a Welsh commentary duo would be brilliant! Get he wound people up on the pitch but off it he is a balanced, honest and insightful player who would give a lot to the rugby community outside of on the pitch.
Biggest issues facing wales currently is that we are having to develop our next generation of test players in internationals because the regions aren't good enough and playing in a strong enough competition to that. Also with the the 25 cap rule we are shutting players out that we can afford to say no to without the talent in the regions. Also we've seen in last couple of months that players not choosing wales because there is better potential earnings and not having to leave their education because they would be forced to sign with a region when their contracts are up, its a short career and being at an Exeter or Leicester is better than any region currently. If we stay in urc we need to get rid of 1 possibly 2 regions, if there's a chance to go and join premiership I would jump. The increased revenue could possibly save all 4 regions and be more beneficial in the long run, as I believe the urc is a dying competition where Ireland and South Africa are just developing their 2nd teams.
Great pod, and Dan is a great addition to the team. Wales' problems are well documented - cash strapped, young player base and lack of physicality. There are no quick fixes for those issues. What worries me is the coaching setup. You all commented on the fact that Italy looked like a well coached team. The flip side to that is that Wales, in contrast, looked like a scratch team that just got together on the morning of the match. What have the coaching team been doing for the last 6 weeks?
Only upwards for Wales, they are a proud rugby nation. Perhaps time to re-visit in country players v those playing outside of Wales. One of Rassie's "demands" when he took the reigns as SA coach back in 2017, it was certainly a huge factor in the teams success. Am looking forward to Wales' return to where they deserve to be!!
Do you think? Teams have blips every year but the state of rugby in wales even beyond the national team is pretty dire. Even today scarlets announce they now have losses of £3m. Whilst I appreciate Covid is a factor, why are about of the other Welsh or URC teams struggling as badly financially? On top of the decline in grassroots rugby generally
Sad to say but I don’t think we can call ourselves a great rugby nation anymore, I’d say there’s been much more interest in Welsh football than anything else
I'll never forget going on a school enchange around 2015, my hosts dad was italian and loved rugby. He told me he knew they were bad, but he said that so many kids in italy now play rugby and in 10 years the fruit will bear. Its now been about 9 years and safe to say italy have one of the most promising futures
I'm Italian but also a huge Wales Rugby fan (such that spent a Easter holiday in Llanelly, my wife still brings up that. The weather was awful 😂). I Remember Sam Warburton asked Italy relegation from Six Nation. Forza azzurri but also Go Wales
Let's be honest here, Gatland came in and had to start from the start. Basically a new team of mainly new blood. He has done an amazing job with them. What will he do in a few months, now he knows what strengths we have in the squad. Stop judging and support the boys.
I was there at Principality for Wales v Italy. I'm s Wales supporter. I hope I see a good future for Wales. Congrats Italy on the well deserved win. And a huge thank you to George North. You absolute legend of Welsh rugby. I'm sad to see u go but thank you for the memories. Cymru am Byth!
As an Irish fan, we have seen a hell of a lot more bad days than good ones. It's only the last few years we have something to cheer about (yes I know we still didn't get past the quarter finals before you say it) keep digging away and ye will come back. Build from the ground up. Things are bad now so perhaps it's time too shake things up a bit and give some lesser known names a lash.
@@BallinaPOH11its 15 years of positive growth and the last 15 years 3 gran slams 5 championships 4 triple crowns , Ireland don’t seem to have any lean periods anymore, because they have a system that works.
The Irish underage system is producing quality players at an industrial level. I have a nephew on a Munster youth development system. The training is off the scales
Found that funny myself . Thought Big Jim was gonna throw in a comment as well. Love this programme. If they can keep biggar on here then I’d place it top of all the rugby podcasts ,Alongside Tim on eggchasers . Feel Jim should come out of the cupboard now and declare he’s English . Last year he claimed a quarter English now this year he’s moved on to declaring he’s half English . Either way like Biggar you’ll get a fair assessment of England on here unlike the john Barclays of this world . Great show today and a fair assessment of wales.
Look at the primary schools. Virtually nothing played àt all. Development officers turn up once every fortnight if lucky and do half an hour handling and running mini skills. Secondary education is a little bit better but not great. Lucky to get one side out. Junior clubs have gone from running 10 or more sides at different age groups to where some are cancelling first xv games. Unless the WRU really get a grip then Wales will become whipping boys.
England is not much better . I'm Welsh but played Rugby socially ( to a decent standard) in England for over 30 yrs. Early 90's we could get 4 sides out and a Sunday cup side every week . We struggle to get 2 sides now. We have a great youth set up but kids are giving it up in droves. Sad.
scrap all 4 regions and restart with two new teams representing east and west wales , then leave the URC and join the Prem and fill the stadiums every week with what would be local derby games , benefits the english and welsh . No other region with Wales resources in world rugby attempt 4 pro teams , the south west of England is the only region with 4 teams and 2 are owned by multi billionaires . London has 2 , why does Wales think we can run 4 ??????? ridiculous sack the entire WRU !!!!
You’ve been trying to pull that off for years now. The truth is that the English clubs do not want Welsh sides in it. It’s time to adopt the Irish model
100% mate. Stupid how we have 4 teams when Scotland has 5 times the population and only 2 teams. It's not a coincidence how they've all been mostly terrible with 1 or 2 having an odd good season in 20 years.
we haven't we were attempting to keep some and merge the others , this would be a complete restart . And what reason do you say the english don't want it ? I've seen mostly positive comments around a british league ....@@djharto4917
Against Italy you could see the difference with Costelow (3 missed penalty kicks to touch in Italy 22 and just general poor play), if Biggar had been at 10 would have been a different game, all these retirements on top of being in disarray has been a nightmare fore Wales.
In the short term Wales have to go shopping in the Southern hemisphere for some "Welsh" players, long term fix the age groups and league, easy to say very hard to do! Scotland also in the same boat.
The Ireland not winning a quarterfinals is a hollow argument now. They won a test series in New Zealand. I couldn’t see any northern hemisphere side achieving that
Yes you beat a NZ team building for the future. Can't keep going there. Your only as good as your last game. You won a 6 nations, with at least 3 seconds tier nations involved.
I'm with Jim on Gats maybe wanting out. He went 0-9 with the chiefs and did a runner. He then oversaw a Wales team that somehow got worse as the tournament went on. He was an elite coach in his day but like Eddie I don't think he's evolved with the game.
I wasn’t keen on Dan when he played for wales as an Englishman as he was a great player but really annoying😁but he seems a really nice guy and a very good commentator/pundit
Young men having next to no experience of playing together don't know how or when players are going to do certain things unable to read each other and take on 5top nation has a team for the first time on a senior level and let's be honest push 2or 3of them I think is not bad attempt at all looking forward to the future
Seriously been thinking who could do the job. The only coach I can think of in the UK who has head coaching credentials has experience working in Wales and has turned a team around in a short period of time is Lee Blackett. He's got not international experience but thats what we would get if we went into the market now.
Renewal is always a good thing, hence my idea is to replace Gatland, get a younger coach, the game today demands it. Gatland just could not see the weak players in the side. Forgive me but it was not difficult to see the slackers and Gatland ignored it the whole tournament. Bring in younger guys, loose if you must but use this year a a renaissance year.
Gatland is tied up with stupid Welsh rules and has a lack of fit and available players. He did what he could so don’t write him off yet. Pivac took us backwards a I just cannot understand who recruited him. Wales will fire again it’s a cycle but we do need the regions to get a grip. They need to work as a whole to ensure all age groups improve Wales in the long run. Gatz will not be there forever so it needs a succession plan to ensure the next coach carries on the spirit and dna of welsh rugby. You can see what Ireland have done. Each age group plays the same way so they can slot into the national team and already know the structure, playing patterns etc it also comes from,their regions. It’s joined up and very smart.
We need Jarrad Evans and Sheedy as the numbers 10s duo, Hawkins centre, Jack Morgan and falatoue back in the squad, as well as rowlands starting permanently, give Grady a full game so he can get experience, he plays like 20 mins a game. Dont know what Gatland sees in the 10s costellow is terrible and ioan is just as bad
.... if Wales keep employing Merc's at Regional level... then how the hell are they going to bring through Welshmen into the National side?! INVEST in the grass roots.
Many of italys under 20s are South African there for the money the training as soon as they show real promise they will opt for SA, this needs to be outlawed if you play under 20s for a country that should be your country.
What have you got coming through the pipeline? Don’t see Wales U20 tearing up trees, the regions are in a shambles, the WRU can’t get its act together. It looks bleak dude
@@dandan4092in the far future yes however the current team is EXTREMELY young and inexperienced. As they gain experience it will be on the up. It’s not as if we’re talking about a team with players with 40-80 caps The Welsh bench is a key example, the front row on the bench has 3 caps between them… 3! One for each.
I was gobsmacked to find out we spend something like 40% of the WRUs turnover on other things, the IRFU is just 9% Other things include that stupid hotel and skywalk. I get why the WRU may have done it but Wales plays rugby, not manages hotels. We need people to watch regional games to get revenue coming in. So what in God's holy name are we doing with a hotel when that money could lure in some South Africans or even better fund accedamies or keep the likes of Dan in Wales. The regions would be more competitive and more people would go watch them. It's shocking. Sell that hotel and put that money into a plan for the next few seasons to see what happens
Seen false dawns from Italy before, so fingers crossed they push on from here because if rugby becomes really popular in Italy it will be a massive benefit to the 6 nations.
In Wales, we have resorted to fielding children and small boys against 20 stone super fit athletes. That is a shame full state of affairs. Edit I forgot Wales are going to send these small boys and children to South Africa and Australia soon. If Gatz has an ounce of decency, he would walk away right now. The situation he finds him self in is simply untenable.
Get Ian Foster and Jacque Nienaber in with Gatland. Bring in a few Saffa and Kiwi players. Bring back Dan! There I just solved Wales’ problems. I’m here all day
@@arserobinson7118 I'm from NZ and a change of coach could motivate the playing group,Joe Schmidt at the Wallabies,Scott Robertson at the All Blacks.Maybe they should give Shaun Edwards a go.
@@arserobinson7118 Bull... as long as there's a skill to coaching a team, a better one achieves better results with the same team. You honestly think Farrell or Erasmus couldn't have come up with better gameplans, cohesion and morale than Gatland?
No disrespect, but Welsh URC teams are the start of the problem. As South African teams we fancy our chances of an away win everyime we play there. Cant say the same about the other nations in URC or European competition.
Definitely. The only reason Fey went to play for England was due to Exeter academy connections. We don't have the funds for 4 teams, so have 2 or maybe even 1 team. Don't understand this 25 cap in Wales nonsense either. Half of South Africa's players are in Japan and just won back to back WCs. It's like forcing someone into a toxic relationship from the WRUs perspective.
I have never understood why Wales ripped up the club system with all that history. It would be like England getting rid of their historic clubs and replacing them with the London and Southeast Rams, the Midlands Bulldogs, the North Lightning and the SouthWest Kestrels. Stupid.
The Welsh clubs need to move into the English league to sort this decline out. It i sad to see Wales decline I sincerely hope they bounce back quickly.
As a Kiwi, I was 1/ embarrassed by watching Kieran Crowleys petulant behaviour as Italy Coach on the Netflix series. 2/ Surprised that Wales took Gatland back after he had done so poorly back here with Waikato. Here’s hoping Wales turns the corner though.
It's going to take a long time, it is looking bleak, Welsh rugby is in the doldrums, this time next 6 nations next year we will be asking the same questions, Welsh rugby had problems under the surface for 12 years or so, its longer than that Dan, more like the last 30 years. But, we still have to get behind Wales otherwise we will sink. Keep working hard lads, the only way is upward.
Personally I think Alex the attack coach needs to go. It would be great if the POD covered this topic as a Welshman. Our attach stats were simple awful
This all points to a hopeless organisation, gatland knows this and wants out. Why would he want his career tarnished by a bunch of beer swilling executives who care nothing about developing from the ground up. It’s a great pity but wales have not gone as low as the will just yet.
This is the end of Welsh Rugby, I can't see a comeback from this. The game in Wales at grass root is shameful. I don't blame the kids or the parents. In my first ever training session as a kid, I got a huge gash in my leg from a tackle. I brushed it off and carried on, then got taken off and sent away to walk home half a mile away while still bleeding with me holding a pad on my leg. Kids today are simply not able to do that. I got many scares to prove I played the game. I have forgotten how hard it actually was. Dan get out while you can still walk, son, I don't blame you.
Our regions are essentially appalling. The WRU is a shambles. Welsh rugby is dying. Personally, I don’t know what the answer is. It’s a tragedy. Period.
get rid of the drinking culture at village clubs, seen far too many decent prospects become more concerned with partying after a sat match, once they start getting paid they think they have made it, its then that they plateau and never realise their potential, would never happen in New Zealand.
im gonna say something not many people will like ..WRU have thrown the mens teams to the wolves , not saying dropping 20 males from central contracts for the womens game is a WRONG step ,just unbelievable the lack of insight torealise the national team was due to be decimated , and at the same time introducing the 25 cap rule .. insanity ,laying men off from their livlihood , but also saying ."WE HAVE NO MONEY TO PAY YOU BUT YOU CANT GO OUTSIDE OF WALES TO EARN A LIVING ..it seriouslv looked as if the WRU were actively trying to destroy the national Mens team . maybe if left it for 12 months before making women professional , while SCRAPPING the pathetic 25 cap rule . already lost players , nd the likesof Rhys Carre whoi is moving to saracens with 20 caps , now not allowed to play for Wales , back to the bad old days where Welsh international players expected to play , just because they are WELSH ..the onset of professionalism nearly destroyed the game in Wales , Regions have NEVER been popular , as anybody from Wales will tell u that the rivalry between teams couple of miles apart is almost a hatred . think Neath , Pontypridd etc etc were well supported teams who were dumped really ospreys is basically Swansea , newport llanelli and cardiff . . the most successful teams and probably best support were omitted , fans have stayed away in swathes , i dont particulary know if todays youth think as previous Welsh generations , and dream of playing for Wales ,as the doom and gloom and lack of respect shown by the WRU is unbelievable
Easy solution for Wales, and Scotland had to use the same solution and it worked for them. Just turn a quarter of your team South African…. Problem fixed 👌
It's refreshing to see Big Dannar not flappin his arms like a 4yo brat! He could probably find a career in team-building or after-dinner speaking........
Wales has the smallest population In the 6 nations, youngsters today seem more Interested In soccer, the six nations highlighted the dire state of Welsh rugby. I'd say at least a dozen players on display, aren't International class. Gatland offering to resign says It all.
Agree, and that was with the great players that we had that have either retired, playing abroad or are injured. So to have finished with the wooden, although its disappointing its not the end of the world given the nature of the young inexperienced team. It looks like there's a few good young players coming through though. As regards Gats being sacked or the WRU accepting his resignation, who would take his place, there is no one, all the best coaches have already got good jobs and I can't see anyone wanting to come to coach Wales the way things are at the moment. I think we need to be thankful we have Gats as he is the man to see us through this tough period. Have faith and patience and lets hope that when the WRU come up with their new strategy in June that it's acted on and it turns things around. We can but hope as it's sad to see Welsh rugby in the state that it's in but it's been coming for a long time. In a year or two Scotland will be in the same position that Wales are in at the moment.
Wales will be back, the Irish are older and we will not be back why cry Dan ? It’s a game and Wales have a good young side who do 😢score tries . Wales for the GS next season.
The under 20s went through the tournament unbeaten. Beat France in France and drew with England. They lost it on a bonus point. I’m not getting carried away. Irish rugby is in a good place
Im all for Italy doing well but i wouldnt be going crazy just yet. This has been a poor 6 nations with teams in WC hangover . They need to keep it going from here. 1 draw, 2 wins. Lets see can they back that up.
Players in the four Welsh regions are losing games week in week out for their regions. Losing is a habit. I think the last time Sam Costelo was in a winning changing room was in early December.
WRU investment has caused the shortfall in talent and it's only going to get worse. Players make next to no money, so welsh club rugby is on its arse since the players need to go outside wales to make a living, so the feeder system deteriorates, school level drops, etc. Sponserships are plastered over every inch of the welsh jersey, principality have bought the rights to the very name of the stadium that signifies the heart of welsh rugby, tickets for the 6N in Cardiff are routinely £100+, where is this money going? It stinks of comitee men siphoning off money every chance they get.
Wales need to stop kicking hard earned ball away. What is the point of winning the lineout or scrum only to immediately kick it away??? How bloody stupid are they? Where is the shape in the center of the field. They all bunch there like a herd of sheep. There is more shape in school rugby. They make an easy game look very difficult and very pedestrian!!!
why did they let shaun edwards go, get him back, an absolute legend of the game, or is he a bit too rugby league for the grammar school boys in south wales?
Hi guys i said that wales should be relegated. Who can replace them as ending last? Is there a second tier? Who is next in line... Portugal.... Well at least the Welsh are nice people was a comment made. That seems political. Promote excellence not tourism. Albert
Very sad for Welsh rugby, seems they've be let down by terrible administration and sport management. Such an exciting style of play and lots of amazing past players. But in saying that I do love watching Gatland fail, that smug sob.
Unfortunately the WRU are useless and the national team's results have papered over the cracks for the last 17 years and only goes to show how talented the coaching team and the group of players they had were, they were not a product of an assembly line of talent that we produce. There's been very little investment at a grass roots level and there's no clear pathway for young players to play professional rugby. They're put into the regional set up where they sit on the bench and are not exposed to the game. Apart from the recent new appointments at board level the WRU is a 100 million pound business being run by dinosaurs from the 20th century with 20th century views that have no place in our society anymore, and some dude who was second toughest in his village or something. There's literally no point in even talking about Gatland, the focus should squarely be on the governing body who has overseen this massive shit show since forever (they have always been a parochial "jobs for the boys" set up but you can't get away with that shit anymore!!) Whilst prices have gone up, attendances have gone down, regional rugby is a disgrace and who knows what will happen at that level, it is clear it doesn't work but now we're 2 decades don the line so no idea how they are going to dig themselves out of a hole on this one. Even the Scarlets who had no brand/identity change and even got a new stadium with a fervent supporter base can barely sell it out. Compare that will football who even at a lower level still bring in more crowds to their games. So whilst I totally agree with all the points that everyone has made today, the rot has set in and now it's finally showing. I feel sorry for the players, what can they do? They were brought through this shite system and are doing their best. It is such a depressing state of affairs and unless the junior and club system problem is addressed and we get young people back into playing the game then this conversation will be going on for another 20 years. Shame on you Welsh Rugby Union
