Sam Warburton has named the players he feels are banker selections in the Wales team after their winless start to the Six Nations, but says Louis Rees-Zammit isn't one of them.
The former national captain and now respected pundit initially struggled to think of anyone he viewed as a shoo-in following the defeats by England, Scotland and Ireland. But after time to collect his thoughts, he offered names of those he felt merited such status.
“I do think there are some boys who are bankers,” said Warburton on the Radio 5 Rugby Union Daily podcast. “I think Josh Adams is a banker. I think Joe Hawkins has [become one]. I still see a lot of development in him — defensively is going to be his main one. There’s a couple of soft contacts when teams are targeting that 10-12 channel, but in attack he offers us some nice handling ability, some good go-forward and he’s really explosive over 10. He generates that speed of ball for us. So I really like Joe Hawkins and think we should stick with him as our 12 option.
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“Christ Tshiunza and Jac Morgan are for me quite clear our best flanker pairing now and for moving forward. I really like Daf Jenkins and I hope he starts against Italy. He deserves a start. He played the best I’ve seen a Welsh second row play, against Scotland two weekends ago, than I’ve seen any second row contribute for us for the last 12 to 24 months. I thought he was great.
“So there are guys there and I’m actually quite optimistic for two years’ time. I’m looking forward to seeing all those I’ve just mentioned with an extra 15 caps under their belt. Then I’m looking forward to Welsh rugby being competitive. We’ll be top three regularly again, I think, but it’s going to take some time to get there.”
Rees-Zammit scored Wales’ only try in the 20-10 defeat by England and was arguably the most dangerous Welsh player, albeit he didn’t have many opportunities. But Warburton isn’t sure if even the Gloucester wing should be guaranteed his place, feeling there are areas of his game that could be improved.
“Zammit is Wales’ best player in attack — without a shadow of a doubt,” he said. “Out of the back-three options we have, in defence he’s the worst. I feel bad about saying that, but he is. High ball, defensive rucks, tackle tech, clearing out rucks: he makes errors there, but you play him because his attacking ability is genuinely world-class.
“But he’ll get there. He’ll learn all those defensive traits and that’s fine.
“Even then, you have an argument to say do you go with a Liam Williams, Josh Adams, George North, Leigh Halfpenny? You can have a case for those guys over Louis Rees-Zammit. There are not many guys who are shoo-ins and that’s the problem Wales have compared to England.”
Wales also need to decide on their next 10 post-Dan Biggar. They started with Owen Williams on Saturday but it would be hard to describe the 31-year-old as a long-term option. Warburton mentioned Sam Costelow, Jarrod Evans and Callum Sheedy as attacking 10s but stressed that whoever takes the job needs to be able to man the barricades.
“I don’t want to sound as if I’m being pro-defence, but 50 percent of the game is defence," he said. "When you are at club level, it’s okay, you can get away with it, but when you are playing against Ollie Lawrence, you need to have someone who can stop him.
“If a 10 is going to give the opposition eight weak contacts, attack just opens up. I’m not saying you have to be a Jonny Wilkinson hitter, but you need to have parity.
“All the young 10s I’ve mentioned are phenomenal attacking talents. Jarrod Evans is one of the best 10s in attack, very much like a George Ford, to the line, rugby league style, with players off him. For Cardiff it works great.”
Good defence is essential in international rugby, the former Lions captain said, adding: “When you’re playing at Test level, what fans might think are small things become massive things. Once you get a huge 10-metre dent, bang, to recover from that’s a nightmare at Test level.”
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