The Guinness Pro 12 returns this weekend, but Phil Bennett argues the sense of drift and anti-climax is all too apparent. Instead of ending the season with a bang every year, the Welsh regions finish with a whimper.
Thanks goodness for the Ospreys and the Scarlets, otherwise the Welsh rugby season would end in March every year.
The Six Nations finished and continued Welsh interest in Europe was over before you could say “Josaia Raisque”.
The Ospreys had a one-man advantage after Raisque was belatedly sent off in their European Challenge Cup quarter-final against Stade Francais, but they still couldn’t get the job done.
The Cardiff Blues collapsed from a dominant winning position against Gloucester.
At least the Ospreys and the Scarlets are fighting for top four finishes and the play-offs in the Guinness Pro12, because the Blues and the Newport Gwent Dragons are playing for pride from here on in – and both have shown they’re not great at winning that, either.
It’s the same story every season. The Irish, the English and the French get their teams through to the semi-finals of both European tournaments and the Welsh regions sit and twiddle their thumbs.
I’m fed up with it and tired, also, of familiar excuses about more money elsewhere and better playing structures.
Munster have had severe financial problems of late, but still seem able to raise themselves in Europe year after year. Perhaps this year’s passion and intensity was heightened by the death of Anthony Foley, but when was the last time you watched a Welsh region show that kind of fervour in Europe?
Both Leinster and Munster are coming from the same league structure as our teams – the Pro12 – so there’s no uneven playing field there, either.
The Ospreys will not need me to tell them that they blew their opportunity against Stade, when a semi-final place was there on a plate.
But at least they can respond by beating Leinster this weekend. For the Blues, top four in the Pro12 remains a pipe dream. I tipped them to manage that at the start of the season, but they have been a severe disappointment.
I think they have a good coach in Danny Wilson, they seem to have got Sam Warburton enthused enough to show his Test form for his region, and they were up against a Gloucester side who are ordinary.
Yet, the Blues just fell apart like schoolboys being bullied by a team who just wanted it more than they did. I looked for leaders in that last 20 minutes at Kingsholm and the Blues simply didn’t have any.
There were some mistakes made in selection. I’m not sure Matthew Morgan is a full-back in that kind of game as his lack of physical power is exposed. Maybe he should have been at No.10, where his attacking skills are not undermined by his one-on-one defence.
Nor could I understand why Willis Halaholo was left on the bench, when he should clearly have started at centre, in place of Steve Shingler who is far more effective at outside-half.
But it was the collective lack of nous, the lack of clarity, the absence of authority for both the Blues and the Ospreys that let them down. These are the things that Munster and Leinster – who don’t have stars sprinkled throughout their teams these days – just seem to get and we don’t.
So, now it’s back to the Pro 12 this weekend, where the Blues are way off the pace. Even if they won at Ulster on Friday night – a big ask – they would still be almost 20 points behind the top four and nine points adrift of the top six and European Cup qualification.
The Dragons have only won four matches in the Pro12 all season and if they fail to beat Zebre this weekend, then we will know how bad they really are.
The Scarlets are at home to Treviso and can afford no slip-ups in a five-point quest if they are going to nudge into that top four.
So, give thanks to the Ospreys and the Scarlets – the two regions who are extending any interest in the Welsh game between now and the Lions tour.
