If there was one certainty in the aftermath of Wales’ 1-0 victory over Greece in their penultimate 2023 World Cup qualifier, it was that Sophie Ingle would not be surprised by what her mum had to say.
If anything, the Wales captain would have been expecting it. Cath Ingle is a creature of habit, at least in this regard. After every game, it is a variation of the same theme: “That Rhiannon!” Ingle said, mimicking her mum in the lead-up to Wales’ penultimate qualifier. “She’s had a great game, and she doesn’t get talked about enough!”
On a drizzly Friday evening in Volos, Rhiannon Roberts did in fact have a great game. She pushed forward powerfully from her right-back berth, read and subsequently shut down Greece’s counters assuredly and provided nothing short of a masterclass in how to conjure dangerous crosses from millimetres of space.
In terms of threat, the 32-year-old Liverpool defender provided a hearty chunk of Wales’ threat in a match which too often lacked it. But, as is part of Roberts’ charm, very little, if any, outward praise fell her way. The headlines were seized by a first international goal for 18-year-old phenomenon Carrie Jones and her devilish dribbles, followed swiftly by the fact Wales are just one point away from a historic play-off spot after their 1-0 victory. The order of things was more than fair.
Yet, if there were ratings available for Friday’s match (in-game stats for women’s games are still not a thing offered by SofaScore or other football apps), few would have been shocked to see, at the very least, a 7/10 beside Roberts’ name, especially not Ingle or her mum.
“It’s why she’s always on the team sheet, probably one of the first players on it,” Ingle said. "She can play at right-back, centre-half. She could probably play holding-mid if we needed her too. She'll get stuck in anywhere and always give you a seven, eight or nine out of 10."
Roberts is one of the many victims of football’s inescapable predisposition to go category-three crazy over its goal scorers and goal-creators. That is not to say that Roberts has never been a source of wild delirium. Roberts proved a crucial pillar in Liverpool’s promotion from the Championship last season to return to the Women’s Super League. This summer, she was football's manna in a wedding dress (if you’re scratching your head in befuddlement, Google " Bride nutmegs new father-in-law for filthy goal"). And of course, there’s the bonanza of being the constant thesis of Cath Ingle’s post-match praise.
Yet, that the most fame Roberts has ever experienced with a football came from a wedding-day nutmeg is reflective of football’s nature and the consistency which is not simply expected of Roberts but presupposed.
“Unfortunately in football a lot of the defenders don’t get talked about or the goalkeepers,” Ingle said. “I don’t know why that is. We always talk about the goal-scorers or the creators but [Rhiannon’s] been one of our most consistent defenders throughout many years now.”
Roberts’ consistency is not a hot take, nor is it a risk of piling unreasonable pressure onto the defender’s shoulders Ask any member of the Wales squad, and they'll say her near magical talent of providing an above-average performance in every match is the immediate talking point.
“She very rarely disappoints,” centurion Helen Ward has said of her room-mate. “She’s just a fantastic competitor and if the ball’s there to be won, you can be sure she’s going to win it.
"She’s one of the nicest people you could meet off the pitch, she’s a very chilled character, never says a bad word about anyone. But you stick her on a football pitch and you stick a ball in the air, she’s going to elbow anyone that gets in her way and make sure she gets to that ball first - within the rules of the game, of course!”
The unwavering nature of Robert's competitive drive does well to buoy her remarkable professionalism and commitment to the game, creating a sort of ideal weapon for a manager. Roberts isn’t just a player who would run through the wall for her team. “She’s the type who would run through it again and again,” explained Wales manager Gemma Grainger.
“I smile because in some of the conversations I have with her, there's something normally related to stretching, or doing something in her front room with a football. That's just the kind of character she is. Every part of her life is set up for being a professional footballer, from the moment she wakes up until she goes to sleep.”
Such character is a requisite for a player set to make her 50th Wales cap on September 6 despite not making her international debut until September 2015, weeks after Roberts’ impressive form at Blackburn Rovers Belles first caught the eye of then-manager Jayne Ludlow.
Since, Roberts has been a mainstay, slotting in seamlessly between centre-half and right-back to consistently and calmly shore up Wales’ backline while marauding forward to provide an extra dimension of blonde-bunned menace.
The noiseless ease at which Roberts has made the right-back spot her own is testament to her quality. As Ingle points out, Roberts filled whatever void threatened to be left behind by defender Loren Dykes, holding herself to the centurion’s same impeccable fitness and in-game standards. Ward called her “a revelation”. It is not hyperbole.
"She has developed so much,” former Wales striker turned pundit Gwennan Harries told WalesOnline. “She's turned into a pivotal member of the team. She's a real rock at the back, offers a lot and from what I've heard from the girls offers a lot off the pitch as well, is a real character, someone who's always keen to improve the mood of the team and brings a lot to the environment."
Fittingly, on Tuesday Roberts’ 50th cap will not take centre stage. Midfielder Angharad James is set to become a centurion, a status acquired at an incredible 28 years of age. There is also the small matter of this match being a winner-takes-all affair for a historic play-off berth at next summer’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.
In a match where headlines are everywhere, Roberts will likely – and contently – be a footnote, a microcosm of the subtlety, class and silent reliability which has come to define her as a player, domestically and internationally.
What can fans expect on Roberts’ 50th cap, then? An elaboration of a theme. A 7/10 performance, at the very least. And Ingle’s mum at the back post with the acknowledgement.
READ MORE:
Rob Page, Gemma Grainger and the special relationship at the heart of Welsh football
Gwennan Harries is blazing a trail after suffering the injustice of past mistakes
Meeting Sophie Ingle, a Wales icon standing on the brink ahead of a new dawn
