In 2007, the public in New Zealand were calling for Graham Henrys head. Undoubtedly the best team in the world had been knocked out in the Quarter-Finals by, of all teams, they French. A team known for their ability to capitulate at any moment had just gone and performed the impossible. While the victory can be put down to possibly the greatest individual performance in World Cup history from French skipper Thierry Dusautoir, (He made more tackles than the entire All Black XV put together, his figure of 38 still standing as the world record for a professional match) it was also blamed on the injury to Daniel Carter and Henry's lack of a Plan B. Instead of sacking him on the spot, the All Blacks management gave him a chance to find another way to cap what would undoubtedly be another four years as the world's best side.
Come 2011, on home soil, the All Blacks then did the impossible themselves and didn't choke. They held out and won the cup, Henry finding his holy grail before retiring. This isn't a million miles off the situation Wales find themselves in at this moment. Perhaps we're not the best team in the world (yet), but there were points in the match against Fiji, who had been a huge struggle for old Cymru in the past, in which Warren Gatland's men looked pretty unstoppable. Despite the pouring rain and pounding islanders, Wales continued to rack up try after try, playing arguably the most exciting, attacking rugby in the tournament. Even when tournament black horses Ireland came a-knocking, with huge odds in their favour and the presence of some of the best performers of the year in their starting line-up, Wales blew them aside emphatically. Unfortunately, some things happened in the following France match that I'd rather not talk about, and Wales found themselves out of the tournament.
However- We have seen the strength of Gatland's Plan A already, and we've also seen Kiwi-esque foresight from the WRU to keep Warren on as our head coach until the 2015 championship. The Union aren't the only ones with foresight, though, as the man himself has proven himself in the past 12 months to be possibly the world's best at spotting young talent. The likes of Rhys Priestland, Alex Cuthbert, Jonathan Davies, Scott Williams, George North, Justin Tipuric and Toby Faletau have all been transformed from decent club players & prospects to international, if not world, class performers.
However, we can't stop there. At the moment, we have more strength in depth than we have ever had. This is evident in the squad listing bellow, but every year, the Wales u20s team continues to churn out plenty of decent players who could, with a little bit of Gatland coaching, be easily turned into the kind of name that could have us troubling the top Southern Hemisphere sides. The fact he called Harry Robinson, with very little club experience, into the squad for the pre-Six Nations training camps shows that he intends to do this. We're already building a very healthy squad, but we can't be content with that. The All Blacks had to leave four or five genuine, big name players out of their squad on the strength of it alone. We want these issues.
But more important than matching the All Blacks is to beat them. At the moment, the 'Big Three' dominate world rugby. Whilst Wales are dominating the European scene, (Well, at international level, anyway) this, again, can't be enough and we must begin by winning at least two of the three games against Australia in the summer. Even one victory and two narrow losses should be considered a failure. Hoping and praying to win, as has been our approach for so long, is no longer how we should go about things. We must expect to win, and I'd say we're not far off having this approach nailed down. And these are the 50-odd players I believe could not only follow this through, but go on and potentially be a part of our set-up that goes forth and wins the World Cup in 2015...
WALES' DEPTH
Many of these are more aiming towards 2015 than realistic options for the here and now. And, of course, half the 2011 squad I wouldn't've heard of in '08, so we can hope for a few George Norths (Who was only 15!) along the road, too.
Loosehead Prop- Gethin Jenkins, Ryan Bevington, Paul James, Rhys Gill, Rhodri Jones
Hooker- Ken Owens, Matthew Rees, Richard Hibbard, Huw Bennett, Emyr Phillips, T Rhys Thomas, Gerwyn Price, Kirby Myhill, Sam Parry
Tighthead Prop- Adam Jones, Craig Mitchell, Aaron Jarvis, Scott Andrews, Joe Rees, Craig Cross
Second Row- Alun Wyn Jones, Ian Evans, Luke Charteris, Bradley Davies, Macaulay Cook, Cory Hill, Lou Reed, Dom Day, Daimen Welch, James Down
Blindside Flanker- Danny Lydiate, Ryan Jones, Aaron Shingler, James King, Lewis Evans, Michael Patterson, Rob McCusker, Jevon Groves
Openside Flanker- Sam Warburton, Justin Tipuric, Josh Turnbull, Josh Navidi, Darren Waters, Sam Lewis, Daniel Thomas
No. 8- Toby Faletau, Andy Powell, Andries Pretorious, Kieran Murphy, Luke Hamilton, Morgan Allen, Danny Baker
Scrum Half- Mike Phillips, Lloyd Williams, Rhys Webb, Tom Habberfield, Dwyane Peel, Tavis Knoyle, Gareth Davies, Aled Davies, Martin Roberts, Jon Evans, Lewis Jones
Fly Half- Rhys Priestland, James Hook, Dan Biggar, Jason Tovey, Lewis Robling, Steffan Jones, Matthew Morgan, Jordan Williams
Wingers- George North, Alex Cuthbert, Harry Robinson, Hanno Dirksen, Will Harries, Aled Brew, Eli Walker, Luke Morgan
Centre- Ashley Beck, Jamie Roberts, Jonathan Davies, Scott Williams, Gavin Henson, Adam Hughes, Owen Williams, Ashley Smith, Adam Warren, Nic Reynolds, Andrew Bishop, Jack Dixon, Cory Allen
Fullback- Leigh Halfpenny, Morgan Stoddart, Liam Williams, Lee Byrne, Tom Prydie, Halam Amos, Tom Prydie, Dan Fish
The best bit is, I know I'm missing people who are in with a very good shout of playing for Wales in 2013, never mind '15. This is what's most exciting about Welsh rugby at the moment. Not the good hands, quick feet or style of play, it's the ability we have to bring these players through and, here's hoping, we can make enough of 'em good enough to win that trophy in three years time...
