Wales shouldn’t be this bad despite everything – Steve Tandy is not helping himself

Wales fell to a heavy defeat against England on the opening weekend of the Six Nations

As Pierre Brousset’s half-time whistle blew to signal the end of quite possibly the most calamitous 40 minutes in Six Nations history, the Welsh rugby discourse headed down a familiar path.

Here we had yet more irrefutable evidence of the self-harm a decade of Welsh Rugby Union mismanagement has inflicted on the country’s self-proclaimed national sport. As ever, it was impossible not to feel for the players – young men who have been let down by a neglected system that stopped working sometime ago and now find themselves in the middle of a toxic restructuring that could directly impact their livelihoods.

And yet, amid the vitriol that continues to envelop the governing body, the other inescapable truth is it shouldn’t actually be this bad.

Head coach Steve Tandy is highly respected, likeable and a million miles from being under serious pressure. But, now five games into his tenure, it does nobody any favours not to question the selection decisions, tactics, messaging and approach that seem muddled at best.

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Welsh rugby fans and media are often criticised for being overly negative – you may have heard Warren Gatland mention the latter once or twice – but that is not something Tandy and this current squad can ever claim with any validity.

The desire to pluck positives and manifest green shoots has been tangible since the former Lions defence coach took charge, even throughout an autumn campaign that served up a solitary victory from the jaws of defeat against Japan.

A win is a win, after all. And what about those four tries against New Zealand? Wales’ attacking shape during the first 50 minutes or so of that game looked on a different level to the stodgy final acts of Gatland’s ‘win the arm wrestle’ regime.

Yet, here we are, trying to shake the feeling things are actually getting worse.

Tandy’s mantra has been one of positivity, identity and “the boys being absolutely amazing” from the moment he walked through the door. Every press conference is littered with talk of “building connections” and creating an environment where players are happy and comfortable to express themselves. The players, whose feedback to a WRU review on Gatland’s final year in charge clearly showed they weren’t keen on his brooding and distant approach to man-management, are, we are told, absolutely loving it.

And yet, when the whistle blows, it all looks clueless.

Now, you can argue there is little Tandy can do when individuals mentally implode within 20 minutes of a Test match, concede 10 penalties, two yellow cards and contrive to bungle a tap penalty in the one decent attacking position they can muster. But he is the man who picks the team, sets the tone and creates the culture.

For many, Wales simply don’t have enough players capable of playing international rugby right now. There is no evidence to suggest certain members of the squad are up to the level, yet Tandy and Matt Sherratt continue to pick them.

When the likes of Tommy Reffell, Ross Moriarty, Jake Ball and Rio Dyer – all in fine form and with proven Test match-winning qualities – can’t even make a squad lacking physicality, experience and breakdown threat it all seems a little odd.

Even within the Six Nations party, the likes of Olly Cracknell and Ryan Elias, two players who seem to offer the grunt and size Wales desperately need right now, are sat in the stands as Liam Belcher and yellow-card machine Taine Plumtree take the field.

Selection is, of course, subjective, but too much of it since Tandy took charge feels self-defeating.

There’s then this question of identity. The decision has been made that Wales don’t have the size or power to play with any semblance of directness. It’s all about finding the edges, with Sherratt’s desire for a “ball-playing” 12 seemingly immovable. You can understand the thinking and the focus on finding a very specific Welsh way given certain deficiencies, but the idea you can compete at this level without turning up for the fight or earning the right first is nonsense.

Wales under Tandy so far have a sponge-like underbelly. They are simply far too easy to score against. In his first five matches, Tandy’s Wales have conceded 248 points. Yet, the messaging is all about that attacking identity and shape, those “connections” and green shoots. Scoring a few nice tries and developing some clever patterns means little if you are conceding 50 points a game.

The make-up of the Welsh coaching team is also a big concern right now. Director of rugby Dave Reddin has said Wales may have to wait to get the long-term set-up they want in place, but the games before next year’s World Cup are ticking down with no sign of genuine progress yet.

This is a Welsh regime that currently has no full-time defence coach and as many rookie temporary appointments as it does permanent ones. The likes of Dan Lydiate and Rhys Patchell tick all the boxes to suggest they will go on to become top-level coaches, but the fact they are operating in elite international roles during their first season or two as regional assistant coaches creates a perception the WRU are currently doing things on the cheap.

Welsh rugby is in a hole right now. We all know the pathways have been self-sabotaged and the current generation of players are several levels below the golden one that came just before. Most of those icons are fairly regular pundits these days and, while they are always careful in their criticism of the men who followed them, there have been clear indications from the likes of Jonathan Davies and Alun Wyn Jones they believe culture and non-negotiables have slipped. The fear and doubt that came with the initial defeats of this wretched period have become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Tandy’s focus now should be on the things that don’t require talent. Wales need to be far more organised, disciplined, dogged and accountable to each other. If those things are missing the rest is all in vain. They need to quickly identify and select the players with the profiles and personalities most suited to international rugby. Those who are not need to be discarded.

Every person who follows Welsh rugby wants Tandy to succeed. They want the misery to subside for these players who are starting to look broken.

This Welsh team is poor, but it is still capable of beating Scotland and Italy at home if it gets the basics right and the handful of top- class players among its ranks are given some sort of platform to perform.

Success in this Six Nations will be defined by how much Wales have improved since the autumn, according to the head coach. He must start with fixing the fragility and selection errors that are suffocating what talent he does have at his disposal.