You can take it as read that Warren Gatland will be keeping a close eye on Scarlets and Cardiff as they try to navigate their way through tricky EPCR Challenge Cup quarter-finals this weekend.
So many players in the two Welsh sides will be aiming to send messages to the New Zealander ahead of the announcement of his World Cup Wales training squad.
In 2019, the extended group was named on April 30, so if we use that as a guide there really aren’t many more opportunities for people to impress.
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For the Scarlets against Clermont on Friday evening, Leigh Halfpenny, Johnny Williams, Sam Costelow, Gareth Davies, Kieran Hardy, Josh Macleod, Wyn Jones and Sam Wainwright will all want to show up well, with the assumption being that Ken Owens is a nailed-on World Cup selection.
What of young Kemsley Mathias?
He’s keeping Wyn Jones out of the starting lineup for the game with Clermont.
That would be the same Wyn Jones who started three times for Wales in the Six Nations.
It’s just a thought.
Cardiff have four or five backs with realistic chances of being in Gatland’s extended group, including Josh Adams and Tomos Williams, who are both probably already inked in, while Mason Grady and Max Llewellyn might both have shouts and some might even decline to rule out one or two others.
Up front, in-form props Corey Domachowski and Keiron Assiratti are putting their hands up, both outstanding against Sale, while Rhys Carre will be keen to deliver off the bench and Teddy Williams and the dynamic Thomas Young could also interest Gatland. Taulupe Faletau, of course, is certain to be in the Kiwi’s group.
But Gatland will not just stop at the Challenge Cup.
There’s serious business being played out in the Heineken Champions Cup this weekend, too, with Welsh players involved in three of the semi-finals. Undoubtedly, the selectors will be noting how all concerned shape up in the top-tier event.
It has long been the case, of course.
Standing out in a routine league match against ordinary opposition counts for only so much in a national coach’s eyes.
But delivering in a big European game tends to make selectors sit up and take notice.
Who are the individuals Gatland will be watching in the Champions Cup?
There are five of them.
Tommy Reffell
Five outings in the Six Nations might encourage Leicester Tigers’ master possession poacher to feel that he’s looking good to be named in Wales’ extended training group for the World Cup.
But Reffell started just one match in the tournament, so it’s premature to suggest he’s made a complete breakthrough at Test level yet.
That said, his breakdown skills are of such a high order that he’s likely to feature in Gatland’s global-tournament squad when it’s named in four months’ time.
Even so, there’s huge competition for back-row spots.
A good performance for the Tigers against Leinster in Dublin on Friday evening would elevate the Pencoed product’s standing even more.
Olly Cracknell
He’s an outsider for a place in Wales’ World Cup training group, for sure, but he’s been performing consistently and starting regularly in one of the most hard-nosed packs in England.
This weekend, former Osprey Cracknell has to be content with a place on the bench as Leicester opt for Springbok No. 8 Jasper Wiese, his countryman Hanro Liebenberg and Reffell as their back-row starters against Leinster.
There are few bells and whistles to Cracknell’s game.
But he is relentlessly durable and tough with it.
He made Wales’ Six Nations squad in 2017 without winning a cap.
Undoubtedly, he has a lot of work to do if he is to get close to a call for the extended group Gatland will announce, but it’s not inconceivable that he’ll make it.
Stranger things and all that.
Dafydd Jenkins
We don’t know if Cory Hill and/or Jake Ball will be available to Wales for the World Cup this autumn.
And we are still not sure about the position of Will Rowlands, with no-one seeming in a hurry to clarify whether he’ll be eligible or not.
Just maybe, with Alun Wyn Jones, Adam Beard and Rhys Davies also in the mix, there could be quite a battle unfolding for Wales lock places for the World Cup.
Or maybe not.
Anyway, Jenkins will want to impress for Exeter Chiefs in their home clash with the Stormers on Saturday. The lock had a big game in defence against Montpellier last weekend, putting in 18 tackles. He’s still only 20 and still developing, but Wales have invested in him and Gatland will be keen to see if he’s making further improvements.
Christ Tshiunza
He had a weird time of it in the Six Nations.
One of Wales’ better performers in a dismal team display against Scotland, he started against England and then found himself not required for the games with Italy and France, with the big man released back to his club Exeter Chiefs.
Reports suggested Gatland wanted him to improve his carrying game.
It had taken two or three men to bring him down against Scotland, but, evidently, Wales wanted more.
Tshiunza has ground to make up then.
How he shapes up in Exeter’s clash with the Stormers on Saturday could be important to his prospects.
Nick Tompkins
The battle for Wales midfield spots has become that intense that no centre can be said to be nailed-one for a World Cup place other than George North, perhaps.
Aside from North, perhaps it can be stated that none of the midfield brigade can yet be sure of even being named in the training group that Gatland’s set to announce.
What of Tompkins?
He didn’t have many chances to prove himself during the Six Nations, but when he teamed up with North as starters against France in the final round, Wales’ attack did improve, if not their defence.
There was a good performance, too, against the Ospreys last weekend.
Another strong show for Saracens in their date with La Rochelle in France on Sunday would help the 28-year-old’s cause no end.
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