KINGSHOLM STADIUM — When the names of the try-scorers are Williams, Llewellyn and Hathaway, and they are playing in bright red jerseys in front of a noisy crowd in a rugby-mad town, you could close your eyes and smile and imagine all was right with the sport in Wales.
Except, of course, it would be an illusion, as the scene described above was Kingsholm Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
And the roars of approval were coming from The Shed for Gloucester’s Welsh enclave of players trampling over Sale Sharks in the English Premiership.
Ealing Trailfinders and the mess of Championship rugby 'promotion' race
Read MoreMax Llewellyn, the Wales centre playing on the wing for Gloucester to suit the Cherry-and-Whites’ available personnel, scored twice, while scrum-half Tomos Williams and wing Josh Hathaway had one try each.
Welsh lock Freddie Thomas started in the second row, and the only major downside was fly-half Gareth Anscombe going off at half-time with ice on his left knee.
“He wasn’t moving particularly well, so we knocked it on the head,” Gloucester boss George Skivington said. “Hopefully, it is nothing too serious.”
What are these players doing representing an English club rather than their home regions Cardiff, Dragons, Ospreys and Scarlets in the United Rugby Championship (URC)? And is it a problem or a benefit?
The same debate swirls around England’s players in France – think Jack Willis, Kyle Sinckler and Joe Marchant among others – and numerous Australians, South Africans, New Zealanders, Argentinians and Pacific islanders earning a living outside their own country.
Only France, Ireland and Scotland of the major nations have enticed or ensured almost all their own players stay put.
At Kingsholm, where the crowd could be heard over the Welsh border if they shouted loud enough, it felt particularly acute and literally close to home.
Gloucester’s Max Llewellyn in action at Kingsholm Stadium (Photo: Getty)Wales have 20-odd viable internationals not playing for the regions – Nicky Smith and Tommy Reffell at Leicester Tigers, Dafydd Jenkins and Christ Tshiunza at Exeter Chiefs, Jarrod Evans at Harlequins and Liam Williams at Saracens among them.
They are not being seen by aspiring Welsh youngsters on their own grounds, or competing head to head for selection, or building the kind of cohesion of which the epitome is Leinster in Ireland, to help the national team – which, if you need reminding, is on a run of 12 Test losses under head coach Warren Gatland.
The main way of dealing with it is the “25-cap” rule – a rule so complicated Harlequins fly-half Evans has never seemed certain if he is still eligible for Wales, although the Welsh professional rugby board has stated he is.
On Friday night, Evans threw a gorgeous scoring pass for Quins at Newcastle on Friday night, but some observers find it maddening he is a mere back-up to first-choice Marcus Smith at the London club, playing for 20 or 30 minutes most weeks.
They argue Evans should be starting every week for a region – assuming he would be one of the four best Wales No 10s.
Steve Borthwick to be sacked? My bold rugby predictions for 2025
Read MoreSome Welsh players end up with English clubs through dual heritage or because they preferred a certain school or university across the border.
They don’t have to deal with the constant and wearying debate over whether four regions is the right number and will they ever be fit for the purpose of winning URC or European titles.
Evans and his fellow Welsh Quins – Wyn Jones, Dillon Lewis and Leigh Halfpenny – might be paid less at home or be subject to other conditions that wouldn’t suit them.
The same applies even more starkly to Dan Biggar, George North, Will Rowlands and Tom Francis in France.
You wouldn’t say unequivocally the “Gloucester Five” are getting a higher standard of rugby in the Premiership – but their club are certainly getting what they want from them.
On Saturday, the home crowd thrilled to the skill of Williams as he chipped and chased for a brilliant try in the corner to seal Gloucester’s 36-20 win in the 75th minute.
“A world-class finish,” said former England wing Chris Ashton on the TV coverage – and Williams, who was Wales’s first-choice No 9 for most of the 2023 World Cup and 2024 Six Nations, is now being talked of by pundits in terms of the British & Irish Lions.
“It’s heads or tails every week as to whether Tomos or Santi [Carreras] is man of the match,” a smiling Llewellyn said afterwards.
“Tommy was great again,” said Skivington of the 30-year-old Williams. “He’s just full of energy, and he really links our play up well.
“He’s a cheeky chap, he loves a bit of banter and we have fun, he has a laugh. But when it comes to training and playing, he’s on it, he’s not messing around any more. That’s the kind of players we want.
“Tom is world class at that; his ability to flip the switch between the two is great. And hopefully for lots of our young lads, like [scrum-half] Caolan Englefield, his influence will rub off on them.”
Llewellyn’s dad and uncle played for Wales and English and Welsh clubs in the early days of professionalism, so it is not a new phenomenon.
The 25-year-old has seven tries in the Premiership this season, the joint-best with Bristol’s Gabriel Ibitoye.
Leicester show fighting 'mentality' - but questions over Cheika's future persist
Read More“With how we’re trying to play, you’re always going to get opportunities,” Llewellyn said, and he added it would be good to get all five Gloucester players in the Wales starting team as they know what each other like.
Off the field, the Gloucester squad are gradually working out that when the Treorchy-born Williams says: “A’right, butt?” he means “how are you doing, old chap?”
And how about any chat with the Wales coaches?
Llewellyn said it has been “pretty quiet” since a review immediately after the autumn series when he wore the No 13 jersey in Wales’s losses to Fiji, Australia and South Africa, and he is just waiting for the Six Nations squad announcement, which is on Monday week, 13 January.
A spokesperson for the Wales team did not anticipate any national coach attending this Kingsholm match, while Gatland is expected back on Monday from his Christmas flight home to New Zealand.
Skivington said he has a “good relationship” with Gatland and his Wales assistants Rob Howley and Alex King dating back to their Wasps days together.
And Skivington had a conversation with Gatland last season on Llewellyn “pushing through” as a Test No 13.
Once upon a time, Gatland was in the Gloucester stands to watch the then-emerging wing Louis Rees-Zammit.
Now Rees-Zammit is as off limits to Wales as it is possible to be in mid-career, trying for the NFL on the practice squad of the Jacksonville Jaguars.
As for those he has left behind, Gloucester’s exiled Welsh are feeling the love of Kingsholm rather than home – and after all it is only 60 miles from here to the Principality Stadium.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Gloucester’s Wales exiles expose the problem with the 25-cap rule )
Also on site :
- Beloved 'Goonies' Star, 54, Reveals What Upsets Her About the Film
- Putin says Israel assures safety at Russian-built Iranian nuclear site
- Nuclear waste: Texas’ loss could be California’s gain