Welsh players have been among the standout performers in the opening two rounds of the Gallagher Premiership, with Jac Morgan, Dewi Lake, and Freddie Thomas impressing for Gloucester, while Aaron Wainwright has made a strong start at Leicester Tigers. Tommy Reffell continues to deliver consistent performances, and Tomos Williams has carried his Gloucester form into his new surroundings at Saracens.
Front-row and back-row standouts
Nicky Smith, now at Sale Sharks, remains one of the Premiership's most accomplished loosehead scrummagers, and Rhys Carre has impressed since returning to Saracens. Newly capped Wales international Kane James underlined his growing reputation with an excellent performance for Exeter Chiefs despite their defeat by Bath, while Dafydd Jenkins continues to be a key member of the Exeter pack. Louis Rees-Zammit was superb in Bristol Bears' victory over Northampton Saints.
With a year to go before the World Cup, Wales defence coach Steve Tandy has a handful of players who are genuine top-level internationals and would compete for places in the sides of many other tier one nations outside of New Zealand and South Africa. Morgan and Wainwright are excellent Test players in the back row who would surely be in contention for a British & Irish Lions tour this summer, had there been one. Lake is another high-quality international hooker, while Carre showed during last year's Six Nations that he is a serious player at the highest level.
Depth concerns remain
Jenkins is also an international-class second row, and Rees-Zammit's ability is well known. However, there are simply not enough of these players, and question marks remain over much of the rest of the squad. Tandy has two good looseheads in Carre and Smith, along with a couple of capable hookers, but tighthead remains an area of grave concern. Tomas Francis will be 35 by the time Wales arrive in Australia, and there is a worrying lack of international-class scrummaging tightheads coming through behind him.
Ben Carter has stepped up at lock, and Adam Beard brings valuable experience, but Wales lack genuine carriers in the second row. Teddy Williams has the skillset to make it at Test level, although it remains to be seen whether he has the physicality to make an impact against the best teams in the world. He deserves the opportunity to find out.
Backline lacks elite talent
If Tandy can get his strongest pack on the field, Wales can be competitive in the Six Nations, but the drop-off from first choice to second choice is considerable in most positions. That is particularly apparent at scrum-half. Williams is a top-end international, as his selection for last summer's British & Irish Lions tour underlined, but Wales lack comparable depth behind him. Dan Edwards and Sam Costelow have potential, but neither is currently in the top bracket of international fly-halves.
At present, Rees-Zammit is the only player in the backline who can genuinely be described as an elite talent. Scarlets centre Eddie James has the potential to address some of that if he is moved back to his best position at inside centre. At 6ft 4in and around 17st, James is an imposing physical presence. In defeats by Cardiff and the Dragons, he repeatedly made significant post-contact metres, carrying with the power to break the gain line and keep the Scarlets moving forward. He has surprisingly nimble footwork for a player of his size and has shown an ability to keep the ball alive with well-timed offloads.
Other promising players coming through the system include back rower Deian Gwynne, locks Will Evans and Luke Evans, fly-half Carwyn Leggatt-Jones, centre Steffan Emanuel and full-back Lewis Edwards, but most are still a few years away from being ready for Test rugby. If Wales can get everyone fit, Tandy has the skeleton of a good side, but not the depth or overall quality required to beat the better sides in the world consistently. The rebuild under Tandy was always going to take years, and much will depend on putting the right structures in place and investing properly in the pathway so it can once again produce high-class international players. There are, at least, some green shoots, but Wales are still some way from where they need to be.
