I take what you say at face value on truth and its very insightful. Fully aware of the clear favouritism in the England set up... Right prep school.. Daddys a upper middle class man with connections etc... But id hoped it wasnt rife in Wales... But you suggest its as bad in a similar or different way... Really dissapointed to hear it fella

This comment is (unfortunately) so true of Welsh rugby, and has been for decades now. A coach or parent knows someone in the regional set up, and will put forward their players who will then get in over the more talented players who don't have the connections. I know it's often the same in business (Not what, but who you know), but unfortunately if you want to start looking for faults somewhere, start at the age grades. It almost seems as if regions are too full of pride to let go of players they've invested time and money into. There are so many good players who have been told 'no', only to be subjected to watching a player who was no where near their level make it into their regional academy. Hopefully this new 'players of interest' works and is not just a re-branding of regional academies.

@@bowlingarry I know I'm just some guy on the internet but I promise what I say isn't just my truth, but the truth of so many boys I played with in the academy setup. Kieran Hardy was rubbish at junior level. We used to call him "wrong way Kieran" because he was never able to identify an overlap and loved going down the blind side for absolutely no reason, regardless of how many lads would shout at him to go wide. His father was the scout for the scarlets and only ever selected Kieran and this numpty from Crymych who was objectively terrible. I could name at least 5 other Scrum halves my age alone who were 10x the player Kieran ever was. Sadly it's not just favouritism either, maybe 70% of it is, the rest is an inability to identify talent. Adam Beard is a big example of this. My team played Birchgrove (the junior team Adam played for) many times and Adam would stink the game out. He was just massive at an early age. I knew Richard Hardy believed he'd make the Lions squad one day...... Boys who hit the gym at 13 and got stronger than most we're always the ones to get picked eventhough you could see they had no rugby brain and a poor mentality. The culture is also broken in the sense the boys think that once they get that u18s Wales cap, they think they're the dog's bo**ocks. I stopped caring about Welsh Rugby a few years ago because I know how broken and corrupt it is.

So much truth in this statement. 1 of welsh rugby's development scouts told me foxy would never reach the level of matty basterau, north could never play centre and mike Phillips was the best 9 to ever play the game. Irony is he was always kissing ar53 down at the arms park getting cosy with peeps. They happily gave him a job n grassroots rugby has been declining ever since

to be fair, I now ,live in England and can say my son is un fortunately in the same boats as you, its funny how all the coaches sons are in the teams academy, and the coaches are just dads, who clearly don't understand more than passing drills and they decide who to put forward - I had taught my lad that if there's a solid defensive line to step in draw defenders and make space for a team mate.....he was dropped because he wasn't just running straight into the contact.... just barking mad. There is also a huge issue with public school boys here too total favouritism even the breaks are based on their school terms Apart from venting the reason I highlight this is it happens in England as well and I believe its happened in Wales for years -I don't think it portends doom and gloom because its always happened - you are right it shouldn't but it does - think back , how many of the welsh players are from that M4 corridor , from schools around cardiff. How many from Pembrokeshire - in recent times the sherrif (carmarthen) and shanks (tenby) I can promise you we have a fuck ton more talent waiting to play. How many north welshman - Northy any others? Are we really saying only people around Cardiff know how to play rugby? Looing at the current team there is a lot of young talent in there but we are missing key positions - we don't have any world class props and I can't see any coming through thats maybe what scares me most. We are also looking for a new 10 and you are right its not costelow, he had promise initially but has hit his ceiling and its not enough. When we have experience 10s in Sam Davies, Jarrod Evans and Sheedy - as well as potential exciting 10 in Dan Edwards I have no idea why we are ignoring them. ref 9 position I actually don't mind hardy (sorry i know its a sore point) but you are right we could do with a lot better and if we are ignoring better talent there its scandalous as these are our KEY positions , look wht great 9s bring - du pont, Faf etc. to summarise I think we have always suffered from favouritism and nepotism , so , whilst it neds stamping out to maximise our talent, its not the only reason we are totally shit, I don't think we are developing the KEY positions of Props etc

Get your head out of the sand! How many of those players in the WC or six nations are still playing? Not many. Look at the Welsh regions in the last 10 years and tell me Welsh rugby is "thriving". Honestly, this is the worst take on Welsh rugby I think I've read in awhile.

Hoya Southern Hemisphere teams🎉🎉🎉

I think there’s respect for the All Blacks and Wallabies alright, but their will always be an asterix beside South Africa, particularly with the use of anabolic steroids in the schools over there, and if those players get through to become pros without being caught, that is effectively cheating the sport, especially when the World Cup wins have been on the back of physicality

@eoinh3816 what utter BS

@@eoinh3816what a knob

And the point of your comment is what? You want us all to get on our knees and blow you all off for being so magnificent? SA have a freak, once if a lifetime team. NZ have been very up & down and Australia have only just come back from the dead. Get off your high horse you insufferable bell end.

England just lost to all blacks and sa, clearly good things going for them just losing close games, wales are tier 2 nation right now

I wish they were playing Argentina this weekend!! England will be up for it just a shame it’s Japan & not Argentina.

It’s sad seeing Wales go this far backwards, the whole rivalry with England and Wales is over lol England will smash Wales for the next few years minimum

Wow how one eyes are you buddy. No one but no one mentioned England. One of wales best former players spoke about Wales. What were you watching?

@@owenfarmer4197What are you talking about?… the comment I replied to was a comment about England!!

They haven’t played yet? How do you know the score? Do you do the lottery?

Are you just going to spam the comments section with your sad little anti-English nonsense? Try and make a meaninful comment else go for a walk or something.

Wake up two years ago Twickenham

grizzlies _are_ brown bears

inner rated

You dont want to accept that, Siya is jou Papa😂😂😂.

PLEASE RATE YOUR RUGBY CAREER AGAINST SIYA'S RUGBY CAREER

@@thabangncholu3494 Im way more successful than siya in other areas of my life dude

for real! thanks for pointing that out - such an under appreciated quality!