It was said of the former West German football manager Helmut Schoen that he didn’t even smile for his wedding photograph.
We know Wayne Pivac is different in that respect because we’ve seen the pictures of his nuptials and the Wales coach did indeed pose in the traditional manner.
Even so, he could be forgiven for feeling a shade down on his luck of late, what with injuries stacking up for Saturday’s out-of-window Test with New Zealand and key players unavailable because they are based in England.
There is, in fact, a formidable Wales XV that, for different reasons, won’t be playing this weekend.
Some of the players are crocked, others operate in the Gallagher Premiership or elsewhere and a few have simply been passed over.
Anyway, here’s that team, which fairly bristles with quality.
15. Leigh Halfpenny
One of Wales’ best players of the past decade and more, he has also been one of the unluckiest in recent years, with injuries arriving in clusters. His latest one was a particularly serious affair which is expected to keep him out for the whole of the 2022 Six Nations with no indication of when he will return. When fit, with his courage, ability to read play and peerless goal-kicking, Halfpenny is a huge asset.
14. Louis Rees-Zammit
Unlucky not to win a Test cap for the Lions in the summer, the Gloucester player has the kind of pace which causes opposition defenders sleepless nights.
A try he scored against Ireland last season seemed to show that some wings can create problems on the outside for would-be defenders who are standing on the touchline, a party trick Shane Williams would have signed off in his prime.
Rees-Zammit can't play for Wales this weekend as he's England-based.
13. George North
North had been playing some of his best rugby until sidelined by a knee injury which is expected to keep him out for the rest of the year. This time a year ago, it was being suggested there were four other wings ahead of him in the pecking order. By the end of the Six Nations, he was being spoken of as his country’s number one outside centre. On form, he is still one heck of a force.
12. Willis Halaholo
A bout of Covid has sidelined Halaholo for a game he so desperately wanted to be part of.
With his ability to befuddle defenders with his step, he offers much in attack but he can also achieve turnovers with four coming in the United Rugby Championship this season so far. Arguably, he has been the best centre in Welsh rugby in the opening weeks of the campaign.
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11. Liam Williams
He is recovering from appendix surgery.
On his day he is a unique player, an amalgam of bone, sinew, skill and mental and physical toughness, with it still not be entirely clear that the self-styled bomb defuser is fully acquainted with the concept of fear.
10. Dan Biggar
Had he been available, the Lions starting fly-half for all three Tests in the summer would have been fancied to be in Wales’ run-on side against New Zealand, especially so soon after Gareth Anscombe’s return from injury. But Biggar is out of reach for the out-of-window Test. Playing in England is not all wine and roses.
9. Rhys Webb
Webb, it seems, has much to do to win a look-in with Wales again. That said, Toby Booth recently reported the conversations he’d had suggested the door wasn’t closed on the Ospreys scrum-half. The 32-year-old is not without his detractors, but he has been thriving on the extra responsibility of leading his region in recent weeks and his form has been good.
1. Nicky Smith
Pivac has simply passed over the man who wrecked Munster’s scrum last time out and seemed to be everywhere in the loose. Memo to Wales’ head coach for the Six Nations: it’s okay to make one mistake, just don’t come up with an encore. Smith should be in the Wales squad.
2. Ken Owens
The Sheriff was assumed to be made of the same stuff that aeroplane black boxes are made from, but a back injury has knocked him out of Saturday’s game. One of the Wales team's genuine leaders will be missed.
3. Samson Lee
Injuries have been Lee’s big problem, but the squat Scarlet has featured in every round of the United Rugby Championship and generally given a good account of himself. While Pivac hasn’t capped him for the best part of a year, team-mates of the man once seen as the heir to Adam Jones’ tighthead throne will testify that he can still deliver.
4. Cory Hill
Okay, not without complications, this one, with Hill pulled from the Wales squad in the summer at short notice before confirmation three months later that he would join Japanese club Yokohama Canon Eagles. Then came the news that Hill had apologised after a previous incident involving two other men which saw a woman's home damaged.
The 60-cap rule alone means he won’t be playing for Wales in the near future.
With his leadership qualities on the pitch, backed up by considerable energy and versatility, he will be missed by Pivac.
5. Jake Ball
Alun Wyn Jones’ old pal, famously involved in a dust-up with Wales’ captain in training last term, Ball is awaiting the start of the Japanese season having signed up for NEC Green Rockets. The 60-cap rule for exiled players stops him from playing for Wales, with Ball 10 appearances short of reaching the threshold.
He has opted to leave the door open, however, saying before he left Wales: "I still have not come out and said I have retired from international rugby.
"A lot can happen between now and the World Cup, I have never completely ruled that out.
"You never know they might change the 60-cap rule, stranger things have happened. I am aware of what my decision means, though."
What it means now is he is not available to Pivac at this time.
It’s a shame because he is a hard-nut who scrummages well, grafts relentlessly and clears out opponents at rucks with brutal efficiency.
6. Josh Navidi
Navidi recent underwent surgery on a dislocated shoulder which is expected to sideline him for six months. Team-mates will vouch for his worth. He is a players' player, one who does the unglamorous work which can be priceless to a team. When the dread-locked one is not around, he is missed.
7. Justin Tipuric
A multi-skilled act capable of matching the best of the All Blacks. Sadly for Wales, the shoulder injury he picked up playing for the Lions against Japan has sidelined him at least until December. It will deny Pivac’s team their top defensive player who can also dazzle in attack.
8. Taulupe Faletau
The Lions tour didn’t quite happen for him. Actually, there’s no ‘quite’ about it. It didn’t happen for him in a playing sense, with Faletau failing to start in any of the Tests despite being seen as one of the pre-trip favourites for a place in the run-on side against South Africa.
But it would be a mistake to write him off.
A big mistake.
The 30-year-old is young enough to feature at the next World Cup and showed in the last Six Nations, when he was nominated for the player of the tournament award, how much of a force he can be.
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