Welsh rugby fans usually look forward to the start of the men’s Six Nations Championship, which kicks off on Thursday, with excitement, but this time the feeling will be one of trepidation. The Welsh men’s recent record has been abysmal. They have won twice in their past 22 matches – both narrow victories against Japan. Wales’s most recent defeat was a 73-0 hammering at home to South Africa in November. For a proud rugby nation, one that has in many ways articulated its identity through rugby, this was embarrassing, intolerable even.
On Saturday, Wales face England. If Wales manage to lose in London by fewer than 25 points, they will have exceeded expectations. The gap between the teams saps the fixture’s appeal. Wales’s vertiginous decline over the past five years – they were Six Nations champions as recently as 2021 – is undermining international rugby in the UK. Formerly bitter rivals now feel sorry for Wales, and pity is the most painful reaction of all. Why has this sudden decline occurred? Some attribute it to infighting in Welsh rugby. The game is in a parlous financial state in Wales and the Welsh rugby union wants to cut one of the four regional teams – Cardiff, Scarlets, Ospreys or Dragons. The Ospreys, based in Swansea, look the most likely fall guys, a move that, not surprisingly, is being fiercely resisted in west Wales.
