Gibbs retirement a sign of Welsh discontent

Politically speaking, Welsh rugby resembles the Tory party: plenty of back-biting at the top end, widespread gloom and doom among the disillusioned foot-soldiers. Scott Gibbs's sudden decision to run down the curtain on an international career that earned him 53 caps and an honoured place in Lions folklore has little to do with his failure to make the cut for tonight's Test with Romania in Cardiff, and everything to do with the argy-bargy surrounding the Red Dragon coach, Graham Henry, and his managerial approach. These are not happy days in the Principality.

Henry the tactician won plenty of respect, both from fellow coaches and senior players, during the Lions' tour of Australia in the summer. Henry the man-manager was not nearly so successful. By the time Gibbs, no great friend of the coach and thoroughly disenchanted at missing out on the original party, joined the tour as a replacement for the injured Mike Catt, several countrymen – the Swansea flanker Colin Charvis and the Cardiff outside-half Neil Jenkins, to name but two – were so cheesed off that one senior Welsh rugby figure predicted that Henry had "lost them for good".

Charvis faces Romania, as do two Lions Test players: the scrum-half Rob Howley and the wing Dafydd James. But we will not know for some time whether Henry has succeeded in building bridges and repairing friendships with those who felt let down and abandoned by him between late May and mid-July. Even if Wales clock up something in excess of 40 points against the Romanians, as they surely should, the coach will not be free of suspicion. Only victory over a fit and hungry Irish side in next month's rearranged Six Nations fixture will give him the breathing space he craves.

Romania recorded two victories over the Welsh during their brief flowering in the 1980s, including a famous 15-9 win at the Arms Park against the likes of Jonathan Davies and Robert Jones. But the rugby was state-funded and state-controlled and when the Ceaucescu regime collapsed, the union game went with it. Several leading players died in the revolutionary violence that reduced Bucharest to ruins, and recovery has been painfully slow, not least because of a scandalous lack of support from the international rugby community.

The visitors' 70-point defeat in Wrexham four years ago is a more relevant yardstick, especially as the Romanian build-up has been complicated by disciplinary issues – three players have been suspended for what might diplomatically be called "entertaining" in their hotel rooms before a recent International match in Russia – and availability problems. A number of France-based players, including Gabriel Brezoianu of Begles-Bordeaux and Dragos Dimu of Castres, have been named in the 22, but their clubs have kicked up an almighty stink over releasing them.

Gibbs confirmed his Test retirement yesterday – "I've had enough,", he said, abruptly – and his departure raises more questions than it answers. Tonight's selection sees the veteran Neath centre Allan Bateman paired with Stephen Jones, a career outside-half who rarely wears any number but 10 for his beloved Llanelli. Mark Taylor, one of several Welsh Lions who left Australia with long-term injuries, will almost certainly return to the midfield when fit, but in the interim, Henry will have to make do and mend.

Kevin Morgan's counter-attacking brilliance should ensure that he cuts a dash from full-back, while Geraint Lewis possesses the footballing craft to hurt the Romanians from No 8. But others, most notably the Swansea stand-off Gavin Henson, will feel the nerves, even on an occasion as potentially one-sided as this. Bad blood among the brethren may not cost them victory in the first outing of the campaign, but the second is against Ireland – and that will require a degree of harmony and common purpose.

Talking of Ireland, the coach Warren Gatland has dropped Peter Stringer, the Lilliputian scrum-half from Munster, in favour of Llanelli's Guy Easterby for this weekend's Six Nations contest with Scotland at Murrayfield. There is a change in midfield, too, where Shane Horgan of Leinster has beaten Bath's Kevin Maggs to the inside centre berth vacated by the injured Rob Henderson. The Scots, meanwhile, have lost Cameron Murray, the Edinburgh wing, to a foot injury. The uncapped 21-year-old Glasgow centre Andrew Henderson has been called into the Six Nations squad for the first time.

On the club front, Heineken Cup organisers have confirmed that this season's final will be played at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff on 25 May. Meanwhile, the Bristol coach Dean Ryan has been "invited" to Twickenham, where the Rugby Football Union chief executive, Francis Baron, is keen to discuss the former England No 8's scathing criticism of the referee Tim Miller, who controlled the West Countrymen's 19-all draw with London Irish on Sunday.

INTERNATIONAL LINE-UPS

WALES SQUAD (v Romania, Millennium Stadium, Cardiff, tonight): K Morgan (Swansea), G Thomas (Bridgend), A Bateman (Neath), S Jones (Llanelli), D James (Bridgend), G Henson (Swansea), R Howley (Cardiff), I Thomas (Ebbw Vale), R McBryde (Llanelli), D Young (Cardiff, capt), C Wyatt (Llanelli), A Moore (Swansea), C Charvis (Swansea), G Thomas (Bath), G Lewis (Swansea). Replacements: B Williams (Neath), C Anthony (Newport), C Quinnell (Cardiff), B Sinkinson (Neath), G Cooper (Bath) or D Peel (Llanelli), A Durston (Bridgend), R Williams (Cardiff).

IRELAND (v Scotland, Six Nations' Championship, Murrayfield, Saturday): G Dempsey (Terenure College); G Murphy (Leicester), B O'Driscoll (Blackrock College), S Horgan (Lansdowne), D Hickie (St Mary's College); R O'Gara (Cork Constitution), G Easterby (Llanelli); P Clohessy (Young Munster), K Wood (Harlequins, capt), J Hayes (Shannon), J Davidson (Dungannon), M O'Kelly (St Mary's College), S Easterby (Llanelli), K Dawson (London Irish), A Foley (Shannon). Replacements: F Sheahan (Cork Constitution), E Byrne (St Mary's College), G Longwell (Ballymena), D Wallace (Garyowen), P Stringer (Shannon), D Humphreys (Dungannon), K Maggs (Bath).