Hill’s recall flies in the face of loyalty
CORY Hill walked out of the Wales squad last summer, preferring to join a Japanese team nobody on this side of Mount Fuji had heard of rather than hang around for the last World Cup. The same Cory Hill walks back into the Wales squad this weekend with the prospect of making the next World Cup provided he stays put. Those weeping over the state of their national sport may interpret his return as a move from the Land of the Rising Sun to the Land of the Setting Sun.
They will also interpret it as a strange way of rewarding homebased Welsh players with more of a yen for staying true to their embattled regions than taking the yellow brick road to greener pastures.
Hill’s return to the fold from the relative wilderness of the Secom Rugguts in a city some 30 miles north of Tokyo has been prompted by a chronic shortage of locks for next week’s Twickenham money-making friendly against the Springboks.
Six are missing for a variety of reasons. Adam Beard, Rhys Davies and Teddy Williams are injured, Seb Davies is in a state of suspension following his red card for Cardiff a fortnight ago, Will Rowlands otherwise engaged with Racing and Dafydd Jenkins out of bounds until next week.
The captain’s absence is largely of Wales’ making, a consequence of their agreeing to an out-of-window Test knowing full well that those employed by English and French sides would be unavailable. Instead of finding a silver lining to the cloud by promoting the best of the uncapped contenders on their doorstep, Warren Gatland chose to recall Hill from an oriental shore.
It flew in the face of what the head coach said on the subject shortly after Argentina had knocked Wales out of the quarter-finals of the French jamboree last autumn.
“It is going to be incredibly important to us to keep players in Wales, to be part of something with their regions and also playing international rugby,’’ Gatland said. “They can be looked after to get the best possible out of them.’’
Try telling that to James Ratti of the Ospreys, their outstanding player of the year. Had he not done enough over 20 matches for the only Welsh region to achieve anything remotely worthwhile during the season just ended to deserve recognition?
Instead he is left to draw the demoralising conclusion that a season in the nether regions of the Japanese League would appear to count for more in the Welsh scheme of things than a hard slog through the inter-continental requirements of the United Rugby Championship.
In a small world where too few pundits dare risk rocking the boat by saying what they think, at least one former international second row has spoken out. Ian Gough, a 2008 Grand Slammer over the course of a 64-Test career, pulled no punches during an interview with BBC Wales.
“For Cory Hill to get the red carpet treatment back into the Wales squad grates on me,’’ he said. “He went to Japan for money, which is fine, but how can you pick someone who’s been playing park rugby in Japan?
“He (Hill) was a fantastic player but you always judge on form and when was the last time he played a top-end game? It doesn’t send a good message to those players who have stayed in Wales.’’
Hill, last capped three years ago, had fallen foul of the rule barring players employed outside Wales with fewer than 60 caps from selection. Its reduction to 25 as part of the WRU’s peace deal with the players makes him eligible again.
Gatland sees Hill as ‘potentially being available through to the World Cup’ by which time the former Dragons lock will be 35. No country seems to put a heavier emphasis than Wales on an event which is still more than three years away.
Only last week, in the context of naming his squad, Gatland said: “I think everyone appreciates and realises we are building towards 2027.’’
There is a danger in elevating the World Cup to a position where everything else is of lesser consequence. For countless thousands of Welsh supporters, the most vivid memories of the 21st century are not of World Cup semi-finals but of Grand Slams.
To his eternal credit, Gatland has presided over more Slams than anyone else. When the Six Nations goes belly-up and dissolves into a whitewash, are the fans supposed to say: ‘So what? We’ll be fine for the World Cup in 2027. That’s all that matters.’
In Test rugby, nothing matters like winning and losing. Jack Rowell, architect-in-chief of Bath’s old amateur empire and the last of England’s unpaid manager-coaches, never lost sight of a simple mantra: ‘Win today, win tomorrow.’
The late Kitch Christie took charge of the Springboks six months before they hosted the most unforgettable of all World Cups in 1995. “Six months is long enough to prepare your squad,’’ he said. “You don’t need more time than that.’’
Six months later South Africa ambushed the odds-on favourites, New Zealand, in the first extra-time final. England went to France last autumn in chaos after Eddie Jones’ late sacking and went desperately close to knocking the Springboks out in the semi-final.
By starting without a clue as to their best team and making it up as they went along, England ridiculed the theory that winning a World Cup can only be done by long-term planning.
What matters to Wales is not Australia in 2027 but Australia next month. While nobody expects the Six Nations wooden-spoonists to beat the world’s No.1 next weekend, the Wallaby Tests offer hope of a stop to the Welsh rot sooner rather than later.
“A season in Japan would appear to count for more than a hard slog through demands of the URC”