Is it that time of year already? Going by the fact that Cardiff is getting dark at 2pm, and Argentinean rugby players have been spotted roaming Queen Street, their tanned skin in striking contrast with the native mayonnaise complexion, it must be autumn.
We never cared that the Autumn Internationals were little more than entertaining money-spinners, but now there’s more at stake than just swelling the WRU coffers. This time around the results of these fixtures will impact seeding at the 2015 World Cup. Wales’s routine losses to the visiting Southern Hemisphere superpowers just won’t do if they want to avoid a scenario of having the All Blacks in their pool in three years’ time.
The last time we were here for rugby reasons, Wales had failed to beat Australia in their past seven meetings, going back to 2008. Winning the Grand Slam, following a gripping World Cup semi-final appearance, suggested that a rare win on Australian soil in a three-test series could see Wales embark upon uncharted territory. When that failed to materialise, the word I used at the time was ‘definitive’. Two narrow losses was unlucky. Three? Definitive.
I, for one, was completely disillusioned. In many ways, I still am.
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Argentina are something of an anomaly in world rugby. They don’t have a top-flight league of their own, which means their team consists mostly of French-based players such as Racing Métro’s Juan Martin Hernández – Argentina’s rugby answer to Lionel Messi. This puts them at odds with the other nations they now compete against in the Rugby Championship, given their domestic seasons are out of sync. They’ve also had their fair share of embarrassment recently: the national rugby union’s mismanagement of a $20 million annual budget has kicked up a right pong, not to mention drawing the public ire of the Pumas’ injured vice-captain, Patricio Albacete of Toulouse.
Argentina shocked us all in the 2007 World Cup, twice defeating hosts France before going down to eventual winners South Africa in the semi-final. The sight of Hernández (who once signed for Leicester Tigers, only be turned back at the airport) and his iconic captain Agustín Pichot openly crying their hearts out after that knock-out match was the epitome of Latin passion. They finished that competition as the third best side in the world – something Wales last achieved 25 years ago in the inaugural 1987 World Cup in New Zealand.
The appeal of international rugby has broadened significantly over that quarter of a century. The 48,000 attendance at the 1987 World Cup final between the All Blacks and France was roughly half that of Wrestlemania III, which took place four months earlier in Michigan. Incredibly, the professional game itself didn’t manage to exceed the popularity of Hulk Hogan and Andre the Giant until two years ago, when New Zealand took on South Africa in Johannesburg in front of 94,713 spectators.
Eagle-eyed rugby fans will have spotted Graham Henry acting as a consultant for Argentina during the Rugby Championship. A Yoda-like figure, Henry’s wisdom –much of it born of a formidable tenure as Wales head coach: you’re welcome, Graham– will have been invaluable to the young Pumas coach, Santiago Phelan.
Presuming he understood what the croaky Kiwi was saying, that is, and wasn’t just doing the old smile-and-nod.
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A NEW PECKING ORDER?
Who will Argentina be targeting as one of the weaker threats of their upcoming matches in Cardiff, Lille and Dublin? The main Irish provinces are on good form, with proven big-match winners throughout the Ireland squad. The possibilities France bring to the table are endless. In contrast, doubts have been cast over some of Wales’s key performers. Some of the regions are struggling –mainly domestically, but certainly in Europe– and the fallout will be a Welsh diaspora. Just this week it was announced that one of Wales’s most influential players, Jamie Roberts, is heading to France. He certainly won’t be the last.
Having performed respectably in most of their matches against New Zealand, Australia and South Africa, it would be interesting to know if Argentina expect a similar intensity against us lower-ranked sides. Former Pumas hooker Federico Mendez recently lamented that his former team is still closer in standard to the European sides than their Southern counterparts, but acknowledged that this would soon change given their increasing exposure to the top three sides in the world. Mendez, once of Natal Sharks and Western Province (though perhaps best loved known for knocking out the Wellygraph’s Paul Ackford on debut against England in 1990), knows only too well the benefits of playing in Southern Hemisphere competition.
So where does this leave Wales? We can only hope the team has learnt enough from that gloom-inducing trio of defeats against the Wallabies to make foolish any notions of an Argentine victory at the Millennium Stadium. Juan Martín Fernández Lobbe, Pumas captain and one of the world’s greatest back-rowers, was asked on Tuesday if Wales after their Grand Slam were a side to fear. Without quite answering the question, Lobbe said he believed Wales played the most similar game to the Southern Hemisphere sides.
The Polish training camps the Welsh national team frequent are viewed as a panacea for regional frustrations. Last-minute revision always works for some, and if it’s the case that these crammed sessions of weights-cryotherapy-rugby-repeat have a rejuvenating effect on the players, then that can only be a good thing. Some of them undoubtedly need it, and I say so because they accounted so well for themselves only a matter of months ago.
Do we miss the wood for the trees when we concentrate on issues such as Tipuric v Warburton, Beck v Roberts, or Biggar v Priestland? Maybe so, but it’s still worth noting that these selection debates centre on the non-selection of Ospreys, Wales’s most successful region. It can be very hard for players to maintain such rich veins of form, and one hopes that Wales caretaker coach Rob Howley gives these Ospreys some decent game time during the Autumn Internationals.
It isn’t ideal to trust a player will rediscover his mojo during an intensive Test series, but I believe it was Bruce Hornsby and the Range who said ‘that’s just the way it is’.
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ARJ VERSUS THE ARGIES
People are getting a little carried away with the scrum issue. The insidious Welsh Bandwagon of Worry has been gathering speed, fuelled by the absence of Adam Jones for this test series. At this level, your scrum would have to be seriously weak for it to become the difference between winning and losing – which the Wales scrum isn’t.
It’s nonsense to suggest that Wales will struggle to beat Argentina without our best tighthead. The Pumas went winless through the newfangled Rugby Championship (despite an admirable draw with the Springboks), and their heralded scrum wasn’t enough to pressure Australia, who have the weakest pack of the Top Three. In fact, you could say that the Wallabies forwards bested the Pumas in the tight.
A strong showing from debutant tighthead prop Aaron Ronald Jarvis (or ARJ, though not to be confused with the identically-pronounced Arg from The Only Way Is Essex, who I’d pay good money to see pack down against Marcos Ayerza) will be good for Welsh rugby. It will ease pressure on Wales and Ospreys’ other ARJ, our over-relied-upon Adam Rhys Jones. Frequenters of the Liberty Stadium in Swansea will tell you that we should be excited, rather than concerned, about Jarvis’ potential.
If ARJ can overcome the Argies, we will see a significant weapon added to the national side’s arsenal.
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“IT’S TIME TO PROVE TO YOUR FRIENDS THAT YOU’RE WORTH A DAMN…”
These November tests have never been Wales’s forte. Ireland, for example, have made the Autumn Internationals their strong suit, beating South Africa three times in their last four meetings. It’s not only the Irish edging ahead of Wales in these stakes, I’m afraid. Despite our efforts in the 2005, 2008 and 2012 Six Nations, Scotland and England are also making us look bad when it comes to taking on the Southern Hemisphere.
Wales now find themselves in the strange situation of having to prove themselves to a whole new audience. They made waves last year, and likewise in early 2012, so the onus is on this team to persuade the world that wasn’t as good as it gets.
I’m now loath to make predictions after my optimism proved somewhat unfounded during the Australia tour, but I’ll take it one game at a time. Playing Argentina first up is a considerable opportunity against a not inconsiderable team, and with many of the Wales players having a lot to prove to their fans (who haven’t let them forget it), Wales must win this match by more than just a score. At home, no less.
What excites me most is seeing George North and Alex Cuthbert get the opportunity to score tries in Welsh colours again: both have crossed the tryline with some humdingers for Scarlets and Blues this season. We have the good fortune to witness some more moments of magic from a very talented group of young Welsh players. The memory of Scott Williams’ try at Twickenham back in February still gives me goosebumps. If Wales can bottle that sort of spirit, we’ll have a rowdy Cardiff on our hands. And that’s always a good thing.
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On Wednesday, a sports journalist visiting Cardiff from Argentina’s biggest tabloid newspaper made a curious observation on the state of the city. He described the paradox of smartly-dressed men and women drinking merrily in a city bar, only two streets away from a homeless man “who has no roof, but embraces and cherishes his dog, his clothes and his soul”. The Argentine journalist recalled an advert for an animal welfare charity in that day’s issue of the Independent, suggesting that in Great Britain we treat animals better than our fellow man.
All of which I find rather rich when you consider the millions of impoverished people living in shanty towns in Buenos Aires. Glass houses, and all that.
The Rugby City 