Sacred during the 2021 Tournament, the Dragons, who play at the Stade de France against the Blues on Saturday, are going through a difficult period, and are sure to finish outside the podium for the second edition in a row.
The Welsh Dragons have lost their luster. Last opponent of the Blues in the 2023 Six Nations Tournament, Saturday March 18 (3:45 p.m. on France 2 and france.tv), Wales, one of the biggest nations in world rugby, has fallen very low for two years, plunged into both economic and structural crisis.
Crowned in 2021 at the end of a successful Tournament, where they had only fallen at the Stade de France on the last day, the Welsh seemed launched towards a new golden period. However, two years later, they will not be on the podium of the 2023 edition, for the second year in a row. “Two years ago they could make the Grand Slam and today they are at the bottom of the hole”recently summed up the former French international Denis Charvet, at the microphone of RMC Sport.
In 2022, Welsh rugby suffered a sharp setback. Dan Biggar’s teammates had a series of disappointments, narrowly defeated by Italy then by Georgia at home, slapped by the All Blacks (55-23) during the autumn tour. Struggling, they fell to ninth place in the world rankings. The start of the year 2023 is not more brilliant, with three defeats in the Tournament for only one small victory in Italy after four days.
A lost game and no renewal of staff
Blame it on the stammerings in the attack and the construction. Despite Gatland’s return to business in early February, the Leek XV failed to find the game that had allowed it to win three Grand Slams (2008, 2012 and 2019, all under the leadership of Gatland). The Welsh have scored only one try per game in their first three matches of the Tournament, showing worryingly poor attacking skills.
Welsh rugby also suffers from a low pool of players which hinders generational renewal. Facing the Blues, the Leek XV aligns, as since the start of the competition, its aging stars: the second line Alun Wyn Jones (37 years old), for whom it is the 17th Tournament, the hooker Ken Owens (36 years old), opener Dan Biggar (33)…
Capable of performing well, like scrum half Rhys Webb (34), excellent against Italy, these former players are struggling to hide the lack of available players in a nation of only three million inhabitants. . According to former Leek XV captain Sam Warburton, within five years, “there simply won’t be a sufficient pool of players to be competitive, especially when experienced executives retire”.
Several weeks of extra-sporting crisis
Dying on the meadow, Welsh rugby is also going through an economic crisis outside of sport. As of last November, in The TimesSam Warburton had criticized “grotesque steeple spirit” of a Federation (WRU) in which amateur rugby has eight seats out of twelve.
“It’s a mode of governance stuck in the Stone Age”he had estimated, calling for the entry of “highly skilled people in finance, marketing and (sports) performance, who will have to make smart, strategic and potentially drastic decisions”.
The threat of a strike by internationals, in the middle of the Tournament, worried about their federal contracts, had highlighted these economic difficulties. One more problem for the WRU, entangled in a case of sexism which forced its general manager to resign before the start of the Tournament.