Wayne Pivac has named his first Six Nations team to face Italy on Saturday but Robin Davey is underwhelmed by a lack of boldness in a fixture where the risks are at their lowest.
When the new Welsh hierarchy took over we were promised greater adventure and added value after the more prosaic approach offered by Warren Gatland and Shaun Edwards, pretty successful though that was.
But instead when head coach Wayne Pivac announced his first Six Nations team for the match against Italy at the Principality Stadium on Saturday we were dished up almost the opposite.
Instead of a bolder selection with a sprinkling of newcomers to excite the palate we were served up a pretty cold dish containing just one new cap in Johnny McNicholl and little or nothing to get the fans buzzing with a sense of anticipation.
The opportunity was there with the Six Nations whipping boys the opposition at home. There was never a better opportunity to give it a go, to take a few risks and show that a different approach from a new coaching team was the way ahead.
Now I’m not going to suggest Pivac & Co should have thrown caution to the wind and do away with any kind of solid base, for not only would that have shown disrespect to Italy it would have been a gamble too far.
There are World Cup points at stake with seeding for France 2003 to be decided, and there is a formidable tour to New Zealand in the summer to be considered.
And no way would Pivac have wanted to start his reign by risking a damaging defeat with all the negative headlines that would have produced, or, for that matter, risking Wales being run really close.
So there had to be a certain pragmatism. But having introduced a few newcomers to the squad, who are full of exciting potential, Pivac has ignored them all rather than blood one or two in the least demanding of the Six Nations fixtures.
A couple are on the bench, but this would still have been a real opportunity to give them their head while surrounding them with a fair bit of experience.
▶ Wales head coach Wayne Pivac guides us through his first #GuinnessSixNations team selection, plus all the latest from inside the camp ahead of #WALvITA. pic.twitter.com/n3CzTfuc2j
— Welsh Rugby Union 🏉 (@WelshRugbyUnion) January 30, 2020
On that basis, Pivac could well have chosen Louis Rees-Zammit and Nick Tompkins among the backs while giving Leon Brown or Will GriffJohn an opportunity at prop, and also go for Cory Hill at lock.
Rees-Zammit has been scoring tries for fun for Gloucester in the English Premiership this season despite being only 18, 10 of them in 13 appearances, in fact, a terrific record for someone so young in a demanding league.
The teenager from Cardiff will be 19 the day after the Italy game, but rather than Pivac giving him an early chance he is not even on the bench.
Ireland in Dublin next up certainly won’t be the place to give him that opportunity, but Cardiff on Saturday surely would have been.
Saracens centre Tompkins was a shock selection for many who probably hadn’t even heard of him, but obviously Pivac had and was in regular contact with him, along with the other exiles he chose in his squad.
He is on the bench and depending on how things go could well make his international debut. But the point is he is a specialist centre which is more than can be said for George North, who occupies the outside centre role in the absence of Jonathan Davies.
North is, of course, a well established wing, one of the best in the world, chasing all manner of records. But even if he has been running at centre in training for the past two weeks there has to be a doubt about his distribution skills and angles of running which are much different.
How much bolder would it have been to include Tompkins and Rees-Zammit on Saturday and to make it a hat-trick why not go for McNicholl at full back?
He’s an exciting runner, has played there for the Scarlets and in any case we know all about Leigh Halfpenny, while Dan Biggar can be relied upon to take the kicks.
Up front, rather than Dillon Lewis and Jake Ball, Pivac could have gone for either Brown or GriffJohn and Hill as well in another bold selection.
Brown’s scrummaging was initially suspect, not surprising for a youngster, but he has improved considerably in that area this season and Warren Gatland did say a while back he would play many times for Wales.
As a former hooker and a hugely successful coach, Gatland knew a thing or two about front row play.
Similarly, GriffJohn has been impressing for Sale, coached by the gnarled Steve Diamond, this season and could have been worth a shot, while Hill has finally resumed after his lengthy absence which forced him home from the World Cup without any game time at all.
None of this is any reflection on the experienced players who did duty nobly for Wales in last year’s World Cup.
The likes of Halfpenny, North and Ball would obviously be on the bench ready to go on and change the course of the game if there were any signs of distress. But as it is, Pivac has missed a trick at the first time of asking in the Six Nations.
Nevertheless, there are encouraging signs like the long awaited return of Taulupe Faletau after an absence of more than two years due to a series of shoulder and arm injuries suffered since joining Bath.
Faletau was hardly ever sidelined during his time with the Dragons. Just saying.
And at scrum half, Pivac has gone for the dashing Tomos Williams, even if that was dictated in part by a slight injury to Gareth Davies and Rhys Webb’s lack of rugby after his dispute with Toulon.
Even if the Welsh team selection looks rather less than inspired it is inconceivable they will fall at the first hurdle against the Italians.
The Azurri do have a new coach in South African Franco Smith, who enjoyed a spell as a player with Newport when Tony Brown was in charge and has since done really well as coach of Treviso.
The Italians will offer stiff resistance up front for sure, but Wales will surely have too much for them. They haven’t lost against the Italians in Cardiff in 14 attempts, winning 13 and drawing one.
That record is unlikely to be brought to an end on Saturday. But oh, for a more bold Wales selection; for something to excite the fans, to stop that constant trek to the bars by many when the game is going on.
But that’s another story. The script for Saturday reads a Wales win, but maybe not by that much.