Wales welcomed back Stephen Jones, their captain, yesterday and, to the surprise of many, omitted Gavin Henson for the match against the All Blacks on Saturday, but those significant developments were overshadowed by derogatory comments from a New Zealand journalist who dismissed the Welsh as “rubbish” and described their rugby team as the “village idiots” of the world game.
On the back of claims this week from within the Wales squad that New Zealand were “honest cheats” and adept at conning referees, the article in the New Zealand Herald will further inflame emotions as Gareth Jenkins’s team seek a first win since 1953 over the clear favourites for next year’s World Cup, who have swept all before them this month.
“If rugby between New Zealand and Wales was a boxing contest, they would have stopped it many rounds ago and revoked the Welsh licence,” Chris Rattue, a columnist, said. “Every year they turn up with a lot of jibbidy-jib in the talk department and every year they play like a reserve grade team on an end-of-year trip to Majorca. Let’s face it, Wales are rubbish. They are the village idiots of rugby union.”
In his diatribe — perhaps meant as tongue-in-cheek but certainly not regarded as such in the Principality — Rattue overlooked the fact that when the countries met in 2004, Wales lost by one point. Jenkins chose not to respond to such insulting remarks, preferring to focus on the match and his reasons for making four changes to the team who thrashed Canada on Friday.
Jones, who returns for James Hook, has recovered from the knee injury that has kept him out of all bar the first 23 minutes of the match against Australia this autumn, while the Auckland-born Sonny Parker is preferred to Henson at inside centre, only two weeks after coming out of international retirement.
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Parker played in the corresponding fixture two years ago that Wales lost so narrowly and it was his missed tackle that led to the try that made the difference. “It caused me a lot of sleepless nights, but being back is great,” he said.
Jenkins is known to have been less than pleased that Henson was such a late withdrawal against Canada last week because of an ingrown toenail that caused an infection. Parker, who made his comeback against the Pacific Islanders, played to such telling effect against Canada that he keeps his place, despite Henson’s credentials and those of Hook, the 20-year-old prodigy who performed so maturely when replacing Jones in the 29-29 draw with the Wallabies.
“Sonny very much played himself into the selection debate with two solid performances since coming out of retirement,” Jenkins said. “He comes into an exciting back line with the pace and power that can hopefully match New Zealand and enable us to take our gameplan to them.”
With Gareth Thomas out with a knee injury, Kevin Morgan starts at full back, while in the front row, Rhys Thomas and Duncan Jones play at hooker and loose-head prop respectively as Jenkins looks to match New Zealand’s physicality. Parker’s partnership with Tom Shanklin is designed to do that, too, while at the same time asking questions of New Zealand’s centre pairing of Conrad Smith and Luke McAlister, neither of whom is enormous.
Jenkins was delighted to have his captain back. “He is not only our leader on the pitch but a pivotal player at fly half,” the Wales coach said. “He brings with him a wealth of experience at international level and he’ll have a calming and positive influence.”
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Whether it is enough to turn the tide is a moot point, but Jenkins remains upbeat about the task ahead. “We go into this game with a huge amount of self-belief and a weight of expectation,” he said. “We know we are playing the No 1 team in the world, but we also know they are human beings. They are at a level we are striving to reach, but we still intend to approach this game looking to beat them.
“We know we can beat any side if we reach our full potential and get things right. On Saturday we will find out just how near to getting it right we are.”
Wales team
K Morgan (Newport Gwent Dragons); M Jones (Llanelli Scarlets), T Shanklin (Cardiff Blues), S Parker (Ospreys), S Williams (Ospreys); S Jones (Llanelli Scarlets), D Peel (Llanelli Scarlets); D Jones (Ospreys), R Thomas (Cardiff Blues), A Jones (Ospreys), I Gough (Newport Gwent Dragons), I Evans (Ospreys), J Thomas (Ospreys), M Williams (Cardiff Blues), R Jones (Ospreys). Replacements: M Rees (Llanelli Scarlets), G Jenkins (Cardiff Blues), A W Jones (Ospreys), A Popham (Llanelli Scarlets), M Phillips (Cardiff Blues), J Hook (Ospreys), G Henson (Ospreys).