Wales are heavily reliant on Tomos Williams at scrum-half, and that reliance has grown after Kieran Hardy was ruled out for months with injury. Hardy, with 32 caps, was the most experienced alternative to Williams available to coach Steve Tandy, short of persuading the veteran Gareth Davies to come out of Test retirement.
Tomos Williams' dominance
Williams, who has 75 caps for Saracens, has been the obvious first-choice when fit and available. In the 2024 Six Nations, after coming off the bench in the first match, he averaged 64 minutes in the starting jersey. In the 17 starts since, that average has risen to around 73 minutes. On six occasions, the Welsh coach has not used a replacement, including four times in Tandy's first 12 Tests.
Inexperienced options
In his autumn squad, Tandy has two relatively inexperienced scrum-halves. Ospreys' Reuben Morgan-Williams has just three caps and has played 55 minutes of Test rugby to date, while Dragons' Che Hope is uncapped. Morgan-Williams, at 28, has over 100 appearances for the Ospreys and is considered ready to step up to the Test game on a more regular level.
Ospreys head coach Mark Jones said of Morgan-Williams after his two-try display against the Dragons: "He's definitely earned the opportunity. I love how honest he is around his work and he always wants to get better. He is an Osprey through and through, a Neath boy who loves the badge, loves coming to work and is so consistent. He's got that sort of dour face and you never know if he's excited or annoyed! But he is always the same and consistent. Tomos is locked in at number one with Wales at the moment but Reubs has done a class job for us. If he is called upon by Wales then he will do an awesome job. I couldn't think of a better guy to be in that squad to help Wales."
Hope for the future
Che Hope, 23, looked like a likely summer tourist last season after a strong run of form, but a hamstring injury cut his campaign short. He has returned to form this season and has made 30 senior appearances. Dragons defence coach Dale MacLeod urged caution over pushing him into the Test arena too soon: "Che is quick, exciting and can turn nothing into something. He is a great support runner and is starting to become a much better defensive player. He is growing his game nicely and with all younger boys coming through you need to have a blend by giving opportunities without throwing them in the deep end. Che will only grown and get better because he is still a young man and I am looking forward to him getting some unhindered time in the saddle."
Alignment camps and development
With Wales still in need of results and relying on Williams for virtually the full 80, getting minutes for Morgan-Williams and Hope may not always be realistic. Instead, alignment camps are vitally important. New kicking coach Alex Davies has run camps specifically with the scrum-halves, and noted the value of close proximity in Wales: "I think the camps and bringing the nines in is just them getting used to me and how I coach and what the expectations and standards I'm driving in terms of the skill set. The basics: the kick accuracy, the passing. So it's really nice to get that alignment straight off the bat and know that I'm tracking their games, I give them feedback after most games, so hopefully they'll see consistency in their own performances. I'm on hand whenever they ever need to reach me. They send clips, bits of the games. I always catch up with the nines after their games as well. I think those camps are probably like a standout - I don't know if standout's the right word, but it's our super strength in Wales that we have the ability to do that. Obviously at Leicester, stuff like that might not happen, but here in Wales, everyone's in close proximity, so we can actually come together and do that, which I'm really enjoying. It's really exciting. Someone like Che, who is young and has got all the skill set to be a very good nine. The ceiling is really high. And Reuben, who's been into camps before. Kieran sadly got a horrific injury on his knee as he was in some fine form. Dane (Blacker) has been exceptional for Scarlets. So that competition is a must to drive the standards in that position. Tomos is world class. He's an instinctive player, incredible ability, good leader. So to have that competition underneath is crucial to drive performance come game day."
