The announcement of Wales’s Six Nations squad on Tuesday has been overshadowed by speculation that Sam Warburton, who has led the side since 2011, would be relinquishing the position before it was snatched away. The armband is set to be given to the second row Alun Wyn Jones, a 31-year old warrior whose relish for battle is undimmed by time.
The captaincy issue sums up the transitional period Wales are going through. It is more to do with style than personnel as they look to extend their boundaries following years of a limited, but successful – in Europe at least – gameplan which involved players giving everything physically.
That approach seems to be taking its toll. Warburton led the Lions in 2013 in Australia, part of an all-Wales back row with Dan Lydiate and Taulupe Faletau. Lydiate will miss the whole of the Six Nations with a knee injury while Faletau has not played for Bath since Christmas Eve when he aggravated a knee problem, and may not be fit for Wales’ opening match against Italy in Rome on 5 February. The back row used to pick itself, but when all three are fit only Faletau could now be considered an automatic starter. Warburton is being challenged at openside flanker by Justin Tipuric, a breakaway suited to the wider game Wales are espousing, and Thomas Young, the Wasps back-rower who is better over the ball than Tipuric.
Wales have played Warburton and Tipuric together, with the former starting at blindside flanker, but that is a position where Ross Moriarty has made a name for himself at Gloucester, powerful with the ball in hand and in the tackle. Wales’s evolution means Warburton, like Lydiate and Jamie Roberts in the centre, are no longer the side’s tactical hubs.
It has felt in recent weeks that there has been a media campaign against Warburton who was written off as out of form. His statistics for Cardiff Blues in their European Challenge Cup victory at Pau on Saturday did not suggest waning powers – 11 carries, 15 tackles and three turnovers won – but after an autumn in which Wales, despite winning three of their four matches, were criticised for lacking tactical coherence and skill, the perception prevails.
The interim head coach, Rob Howley, effectively auditioning for the job after the 2019 World Cup when Warren Gatland leaves, said before the autumn series that Warburton would continue as captain, but the flanker only led the side once in November. He missed two matches, the first and last, because of injury and when he returned after the opening weekend defeat by Australia, Gethin Jenkins continued as captain with Warburton picked out of position at blindside flanker. Jenkins is injured, leaving Jones, who led the Lions in the final Test in 2013 when Warburton had a hamstring strain, as the obvious alternative for the captaincy.
Tipuric’s form merits more than a seat on the bench, although such are the handling and passing skills of the Osprey that Howley must wish at times he had been born a centre, and he is a more visible player than Warburton. And yet in the opening minutes of the Test against Australia last November, when there was no score, Tipuric had the chance to force a turnover or penalty on his own line. Instead, he was shoved to the ground, conceded a penalty and Australia scored from the resulting lineout on their way to a 32-8 victory.
Warburton is harder to dislodge and Howley will not discard him with turnover ball the best to attack from, even if keeping him as captain runs the risk of accusations he was only in the side because he was the leader, not on merit. Jones picks himself at second row, and if his abrasive character was a reason Gatland overlooked him as captain, he is an example for others to follow.
With Rhys Webb set to return from injury at scrum-half, Howley has options at fly-half in Dan Biggar and Sam Davies and at 12 in Scott Williams and Roberts while two of the 2013 Lions, the centre Jonathan Davies and the wing George North, have been struggling for form. The 18-year old wing Keelan Giles, who was called into the squad in November, strained a hamstring for Ospreys against Lyon on Sunday and will be assessed later this week.
It is a question of balance for Howley as Wales, who play England and Ireland in Cardiff and travel to Italy, France and Scotland, trips where they have lost a total of one match since 2011, look to refine rather than overhaul.
