Wales taking on Australia at their own game as Warren Gatland rolls the dice with Owen Williams gamble
Wales head coach changes up his tactics in the hope of ending a 12-Test losing streak
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The irony of his new-look midfield facing an Australian centre pairing with a combined weight of 33 stone in Cardiff on Saturday will not be lost on Warren Gatland.
With the Wales head coach naming Gloucester fly-half Owen Williams at No 12 he has effectively torn up the ‘Warrenball’ blueprint he has favoured through hell and high water during his coaching career in favour of the second ballplayer model usually favoured by the Wallabies.
Williams, a 6ft tall, 14st 4lbs fly-half, is paired with British & Irish Lions star Jonathan Davies, with Dan Biggar at No 10, with the Wales midfield responsible not only for creating the magic, but also holding back the tide of awesome Australian power which will come courtesy of Tevita Kuridrani and Samu Kerevi.
While the focus has been on attack, it is in defence Williams will face the sternest examination.
Some would say this is a Test match tailor made for the hulking presence of Jamie Roberts or Scott Williams in midfield but both men are out of favour as Gatland seeks to broaden Welsh horizons after stumbling on his new model in New Zealand last summer.
Then, Jonathan Sexton combined superbly with Owen Farrell in the Lions midfield, mixing robust defence with creative distribution and intelligent kicking from hand. The Lions were anything but one dimensional and Wales, with Williams and Biggar pulling the strings, will be looking for similar width at the Principality Stadium on Saturday.
Davies, at 6ft tall and weighing 16st 2lb, is all things to all men. Blessed with a low centre of gravity, superb ballast and even better hands, the Scarlets No 13 is now firmly established as one of the world’s very best centres. Williams will surely benefit from the presence of such a high-class operator alongside him.
Davies will be charged with replicating his summer form, when he was many people’s player of the series as the Lions pulled off an unexpected 1-1 draw, while guiding the Gloucester three-quarter through only his second international appearance.
Williams will have to learn fast. He will very quickly become acquainted with the raw physicality Kuridrani and Kerevi will bring to bear and how he handles it will go a long way towards determining if Wales can beat the Wallabies for the first time in almost a decade
“It is going to be a tough challenge for Owen, especially with the physicality of the Australian centres, Kerevi and Kuridrani,’ said former Wales and Gloucester fly-half Nicky Robinson this week.
“Defensively it will be very difficult. Wales are looking to change the way that they have played since Gatland has been there.
“It is very hard to change an international game plan when you have such a limited amount of time to train with the guys.”
Williams has hardly pulled up trees in the Aviva Premiership this season but has been favoured ahead of Rhys Priestland and Rhys Patchell in the pivotal inside centre spot for Wales, where the hulking Roberts was a mainstay for so many years before being usurped by Scott Williams last season.
Playing a side that has dished out several hidings to Wales in recent years, this is unquestionably a significant gamble for Gatland in his first game in charge since leading the Lions so successfully. The New Zealander has dominated the airwaves in the past few weeks relentlessly promoting his book ‘In the Line of Fire’, charting his time in charge of the Lions. If Wales’ midfield works half as smoothly as the book’s PR campaign, his side could be in for a fruitful afternoon.
In some ways, Gatland will rightly feel he has nothing left to prove. Having already taken Wales to the knockout stages of two successive World Cups, narrowly missing out on a place in the final in 2011, he has arguably already over-delivered even before you consider the 2012 Grand Slam they secured on his watch.
Gatland feels undervalued in both hemispheres. But a late tweak to his coaching ethos could yet deliver untold riches for a country where the rugby team’s fortunes go such a long way towards determining the national mood. For Gatland, it could also convince a sceptical New Zealand public of his worthiness for the world’s top coaching job: the All Blacks.
Wales cannot afford to be defensive on Saturday when victory would catapult them forward into three more brutal Tests against Georgia, New Zealand and South Africa on successive weekends.
Beating the Wallabies at their own game with a ball-playing 12? There’d be certain irony in that.
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