As Welsh rugby continues to plunge from crisis to crisis off the field, it might seem churlish to question the individual selection decisions made by national coach Steve Tandy.
After all, who starts at openside flanker in place of injured captain Jac Morgan for the Six Nations opener with England is undoubtedly less significant than the prospect of the Ospreys falling out of existence amid the Welsh Rugby Union’s plan to cut Wales’ number of domestic teams from four to three.
And yet when Tandy named his squad for the 2026 Championship on Tuesday against a backdrop of more boardroom upheaval, it was hard to ignore the fact that his squad once again lacks the power needed to compete at Test level.
International rugby is about brute force. Size matters.
And the brutal reality for Wales right now is they don’t have enough of it to compete with the best sides on the planet.
Ross Moriarty, 31 and Jake Ball, 34 who have both international knowhow and a hard, abrasive edge, were left out of Wales’ 38-man party on Tuesday.
Wales head coach Steve Tandy will have plenty to deal with this upcoming Six Nations
Tandy is keen to look to the future and that is understandable, but he also brought back 33-year-old Tomas Francis from Welsh exile to strengthen a problem position of prop, so that suggests he is not averse to using experience.
It is hard to escape the feeling both Moriarty and Ball would have been good selections at a time when a youthful Wales set-up does lack international knowhow.
The fact Francis is back to shore up the scrum for the first time since the 2023 World Cup is a positive – one that could have been improved further had his old pals Moriarty and Ball been alongside him.
‘We aren’t blessed with obscene physical stature,’ Tandy admitted.
With Morgan on the sidelines after undergoing shoulder surgery following Wales’ autumn defeat by Argentina, it is also baffling to see another genuine openside in Tommy Reffell left out altogether.
Reffell is one of the first names on the team sheet with his club Leicester Tigers and provides a genuine poaching threat at the breakdown. Reffell is a top-quality operator.
Harri Deaves’ journey to a Test debut against New Zealand in November was a heartwarming story. But Reffell is, in this writer’s opinion, a far superior operator on the openside.
Tandy’s squad announcement press conference, as it was in the autumn, was again dominated by off-field distractions. And once more, the upcoming campaign looks set to take place alongside the WRU’s ongoing attempt to get Wales’ national game back on track.
Tommy Reffell has been omitted from Wales’ Six Nations squad despite shining for Leicester
The governing body has greenlighted the attempt for Y11 Sports & Media, the owners of the Ospreys, to take over Cardiff in a move that would essentially mean a merger of those two sides. It is a convenient move from the WRU’s point of view, but not one popular with the supporters of the teams at risk and also the Ospreys players.
On Tuesday, Mark Jones’ squad published a collective statement hitting out at the current uncertainty.
‘As players we want to address the current situation and offer supporters our point of view,’ the statement read. ‘We have been left in the dark by the WRU and Y11.
‘We have had no information regarding the ongoing situation. We struggle to believe the most successful Welsh team to exist with the biggest history is on the brink of non-existence.
Ospreys’ future still remains up in the balance as Welsh rugby looks to lose one of its regions
‘We will continue to play for the fans and the people who have stood by the Ospreys over the years.’ It summed up yet another crazy day in the mad house that is Welsh rugby.
Expect Wales’ Six Nations campaign to again be as much about what happens outside the white lines as between them.
It’s been going on for way too long but unfortunately, shows no sign of ending.
