To a casual observer – and in rugby there are plenty of those – the situation is bewildering. Wales have won more grand slams in the Six Nations era than anyone bar France, who drew level with them on four last season. They boast one of the biggest and most charismatic stadiums in the world and – more of an intangible, but very real all the same – rugby runs more deeply through the nation’s culture than anywhere else in the northern hemisphere.
Yet Welsh rugby’s facade has imploded this past fortnight. Sitting bottom of the Six Nations table after two rounds and before Saturday’s encounter with England in Cardiff, the players walked out of talks with their employers and threatened to derail the entire championship only to relent on Thursday and call off proposed strike action.
