By Graham Thomas
Warren Gatland has handed the keys to No.10 to Sam Costelow and told him: No pressure, mate!
None at all, except for the fact that Costelow will start at outside-half in a Wales team that has lost its previous 11 matches, is facing world champions South Africa, and has been selected by a coach who may be one defeat away from the sack.
Oh, and the Scarlets youngster is also operating in the most scrutinised playing position in Wales, having come off the bench in the defeat to Australia last week and thrown out a pass that was intercepted for a breakaway try.
And, he’s also been subject to rather malign, but obtuse social media abuse that appears to lay much of the blame for Welsh rugby’s 25-year decline at the feet of the 23-year-old.
Changes for Wales!
Sam Costelow starts at fly-half, with Blair Murray shifting to full-back as Warren Gatland makes four changes for the clash against world champions South Africa this Saturday in Cardiff
How do you think the new lineup will perform?#BBCRugby
— BBC Sport Wales (@BBCSportWales) November 21, 2024
But apart from that – yeah, no pressure, mate.
To be fair what Gatland means by “no pressure” on Costelow – who has replaced Gareth Anscombe for Saturday’s Test against the Springboks – is no expectation.
Costelow will earn his 18th cap and has so far finished on the winning side just four times.
Gatland knows the context, knows the record, knows the opposition, but also knows the player and insists: “He’s been training exceptionally well.
“He’s probably been a bit more comfortable sitting on the bench or being on the other side.
“We’re probably trying to take a little bit of pressure off him. Being No.10 for Wales brings with it a huge amount of pressure and expectation. That’s challenging sometimes for players and young men.
“We’ve seen that a number of times over the years in terms of how they’ve handled that when they’ve been given that jersey.
“We’ve used Gareth (Anscombe) in the first two games and now there’s a chance for Sam, perhaps with a bit less pressure on him.
“He’s still a work in progress but we think he’s going to be a really good 10 for us going forward. We need to keep making sure we’ve got cover in that position in case we do pick up injuries.
“Gareth has picked up injuries over the last few years so we’ve got to make sure we have depth.”
You wouldn’t be wrong if you felt you had heard Gatland state this before – the talk about growing depth among the pool of outside-halves and the need to back young players, whose confidence can sometimes be fragile, by keeping faith with them.
You’d be right. He said the same thing about Ioan Lloyd before the last Six Nations.
Lloyd started at No.10 against England at Twickenham, played in all five of Wales’ matches in that tournament, and hasn’t been seen since in a red jersey – (at least the red of Wales, rather than the Scarlets).
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Like Costelow, Lloyd is 23 years old. He was flavour of the month for Gatland nine months ago but was axed from the squad that toured Australia and then left out for this Autumn Series.
Ben Thomas was the chosen No.10 for the two summer Tests against the Wallabies, but he has since been shifted to his club psotion of inside centre.
That enabled Gatland to bring back Anscombe – the only truly expereinced operator in the position for Wales at present – but he, too, has now been left out and finds himself not even among the bench replacements.
Asked if he thought the cupboard was a bit empty-looking in Wales when it comes to prospective international outside-halves, Gatland replied: “It does look a little bit bare, yeah.”
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But he went on to explain why Costelow had now become the best of a small bunch.
“One of the things that’s pleased us most that’s improved in his game, has been his kicking game. There’s been a huge improvement there.
He’s brave. He can be a running threat. So, we’ve been looking at the way he’s trained and feel there’s a good opportunity to give him a chance.
“We’ve got Ben (Thomas) covering and that gives us more cover in the midfield and back three then as well.”
So, no pressure, then, young Sam.
Apart from the fact that your clubmate has been banished from the Test scene with little explanation, or that your new found improvements were not given a chance to be honed further with starting opportunities against either Fiji or Australia.
Go out there and show us what you can do against the number one team in the world!
DragonBet make Wales – and Costelow – massive 22/1 underdogs to beat the Springboks, with South Africa an unattractive 1/40.
You can get Wales at near even money with a 24.5 points start.