“Has Shontayne Hape been dropped,” asked a journalist.
“No, he hasn’t been selected,” came Martin Johnson’s reply during his tenure as England head coach. It’s the way he tells ’em, except the beetle-browed old bruiser was speaking without a trace of a smile on his face.
When should a player become concerned about not being picked by his country? When is a player axed or simply not selected? Or is it always right for an individual to be a tad worried if someone takes his Test shirt?
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Ask Rhys Webb, perhaps. He hasn’t started a game for Wales in 22 matches. His response has been to hit a rich vein of form with his region, the Ospreys. Calls for him to figure in Wayne Pivac’s squad once again have become ever louder, but so far the head coach has declined to heed them.
Webb isn’t alone among the wilderness gang. We look at his situation and that of others Wales just stopped picking and ponder why they no longer figure.
Rhys Webb (Ospreys, scrum-half)
The Lions scrum-half hasn’t started for Wales since the friendly against France in October 2020. Since then Wayne Pivac has used four other nines, despite Webb playing some of his best rugby for the Ospreys.
What’s it all about? Potentially, the Wales selectors have factored Webb’s age into their calculations — he’ll be 34 when the next World Cup unfolds. Pivac already has a number of seasoned stars in his squad; maybe he feels adding another would be one too many.
Or perhaps he still holds Webb’s words against him after the No. 9 was left out of the set-up for the 2021 Six Nations. Explaining the omission, the head coach said at the time: “I think Rhys has talked about not wanting to be a number three and Lloyd (Williams) is a perfect number three for us.”
But what is indisputable is that Webb has been in form. In the United Rugby Championship he tops the list of tries for a scrum-half, with seven, and he also heads the lists of try assists among No. 9s, sitting on seven along with Ulster’s Neil Doak.
He has shown leadership in a side that has needed it. It’s been suggested Pivac and Webb should go for a coffee to untangle any crossed wires.
Maybe a Nescafe moment is what’s needed, because Webb deserves to be told where he stands.
Ioan Lloyd (Bristol, utility back)
He’s a young player who has the ‘wow’ factor. In a Wales squad shy of creativity behind the scrum, many would regard including the 21-year-old as a no-brainer.
Certainly, the youngster is capable of special deeds. Last year against Exeter he collected a floated pass from Harry Randall on his 22 before beating an onrushing defender with a right-footed kick down the line. He then gathered, made 10 metres and played the ball past another would-be tackler with a left-footed kick that looked for all the world likely to yield a try for Randall, only for Sam Simmonds to steam back and snuff out the danger.
No score, then, but what skill it was from Lloyd.
Social media rose to applaud, with the Press Association’s rugby correspondent posting on Twitter: "If Ioan Lloyd does not win at least 50 caps, I will be amazed. He has the ability to be Wales’ Cheslin Kolbe." You can read more about Lloyd he re.
Pivac evidently enjoys the former Wales U20 international’s play. Indeed, the coach was at Parc y Scarlets three months ago, watching Lloyd open up the Scarlets defence brilliantly as he created a try from inside centre and then scored one himself.
When Lloyd left the pitch injured on 32 minutes, Pivac was among those applauding as the Bristol player headed off.
An explanation for his not winning a cap since December 2020? His defensive game was exposed back then and he has yet to settle in one position with Bristol. For some, his extraordinary versatility is a plus and it could come in handy at a World Cup, but there’s an argument it can also hinder efforts to nail down a starting place.
Nicky Smith (Ospreys, prop)
He’s had a strong season but hasn’t played for Wales since last summer, with Pivac omitting him from two successive squads.
It isn’t as if Wales have been destroying opposition scrums in his absence, either. Smith is excellent over the ball, carries well and is a decent set-piece operator. At 28, he is also in the prime of his career.
But he hasn’t played in a Test since the opener against Argentina last July. Maybe he needs a defining scrummaging performance at Test level.
Whatever, his exclusion has left many perplexed.
Luke Morgan (Ospreys, wing)
Warren Gatland had called Morgan into his team amid injuries for the game with Scotland in the autumn of 2018.
It was a deserved selection after a striking burst of form for the Ospreys. But the opening 60 minutes of that game may just have been the longest hour of Morgan’s career.
There he was, on the Wales left wing, with much of the play going the other way. Does a new boy risk deserting his post and go hunting for ball?
Or would the consequences be potentially too grave if a sudden counter paid dividends for the Scots with no one at home out wide? Perhaps the safer bet was to hope the ball would eventually find its way across the backline? It does in most games, after all. It didn’t for Morgan against Scotland. He didn’t receive a pass until the 65th minute. Opportunities to show the dazzling attacking form he had been in for the Ospreys were non-existent.
He is lightning quick and dangerous in space. But Wales haven’t come calling since, with others returning to fitness and the likes of Josh Adams and Louis Rees-Zammit emerging.
Jonah Holmes (Dragons, wing)
This time 12 months ago, Holmes hit a patch of form coloured in deep purple. Tries were being run in regularly, clean breaks were reeled off in every game. There was a case for saying he was playing as well as any other player in Welsh rugby.
Caps against Canada and in the first Test against Argentina last summer were his reward. But then — nothing.
The Dragon had actually performed well enough against the Pumas, making 64 metres from nine runs and beating four defenders, Since then, he’s been banished to the Wales wilderness amid hot competition in the back three.
He has been linked strongly with English Championship club Ealing Trailfinders amid contractual issues in Wales.
Sam Parry (Ospreys, hooker)
The Ospreys hooker is immensely powerful and a regular scorer of tries from mauls. He is also adept at pilfering opposition possession at breakdowns and relishes opportunities to carry.
Pivac drafted him into the Wales picture last season and Parry won four caps, including one as a starter against Italy in the Autumn Nations Cup.
With Ken Owens sidelined by injury throughout the current international season, Parry would have hoped he’d feature in Wales’ plans once again. But he’s had injuries and hasn’t been used since the second Test against Argentina last summer.
The emergence of Dewi Lake has given Pivac an extra option at No. 2 and Ryan Elias has had a fine season.
Good form and a door or two opening could yet allow Parry to force his way back into the mix.
But right now he doesn’t seem part of Pivac’s thinking.
Owen Lane (Cardiff, wing)
Scored a try and largely performed well for Wales in the second Test against Argentina last year, Lane kept his place for the autumn series opener against New Zealand.
He wasn’t the worst in that game, his highlights including a run out of defence and a nicely executed kick and chase. In the debit column, he was all over the place when Sevu Reece scored.
With ball in hand, the 6ft 1in, 15st 3lb wing can be hard to stop. He is strong, can shift and knows his way to the try line.
But defensively there’s significant room to improve and the competition for wing spots in Wales is keen.
Injuries haven’t helped Lane and it’s far from inconceivable the 24-year-old Cardiff player could force his way back into the Test reckoning, but he’ll have to iron out the creases in his game.
