Down at the Parade

When the major Welsh rugby story is about a region appointing a new fitness coach, you know the sort of week it's been. Stephen “Ritaz” Richards may possibly be part of a mid-nineties French rap group, but is Welsh and has an impressive CV joining The Newport Gwent Dragons from Ulster, having previously been at the Celtic Warriors.

It's been another busy week at Rodney Parade, with double barrelled wonder Rhodri Gomer-Davies extending his contract for a further two years. I'm always suspicious of any centre who plays in both inside and outside positions. make your mind up whether your good at one first.

Also in the same article Gomer-Davies talks about his hopes of impressing Warren Gatland enough to earn an international call up. <Link>

"I have full confidence in the coaching team at the region and know that I have to prove myself further to attract the attention of the selectors in Wales."

As an inside centre that isn't entirely implausible should Gavin Henson be sidelined again, there aren't that many options open to Wales to fill the number 12 shirt.

White Talks

New Wales fitness guru Craig White has been speaking about his plans. White who was part of the coaching set-up alongside Gatland and Edwards at Wasps, is clearly from the same school of thought as those two.<Link>

“Rest is so important but the key to getting better in all areas of performance is through intensity of effort in training,”

“I am one of the few who don’t believe in player-burnout. If clubs and regions manage players well, you don’t get burnout.”

Alongside Huw Wiltshire, White will be playing a more hands on role with the conditioning side of the things with the region, and as he demonstrated with Wasps, he definitely knows how to make players peak at the right time.

“The biggest thing we can do to help at regional level is to just be around as often as we can and to get stuck in and get our hands dirty.

“It means we can keep an eye on the international players and we are improving lines of communication from the national set-up right through to the regions.

It does does however beggar the question of a possible conflict, even if the regions and Wales have developed an exceptionally strong relationship in recent years, having a member of the Welsh management team overseeing players fitness on a day-to-day basis, could potentially be a step too far.

Yapp makes scrum switch

John Yapp, remember him? Three years ago he was the young bright thing, coming off the bench regularly during Wales's grand-slam success, now the prop has found his career stifled somewhat, as Gethin Jenkins's fill-in at regional level. Rather than accept his fate or move to Sale like every other Welsh prop, Yapp has made the brave switch across the scrum, to tighthead. <Link>

Even if Cardiff Blues and Wales lack options in the number three jersey and it seems wasteful to have Yapp on the bench, it is clearly still a massive gamble as to whether he will cut the mustard, in such a heavily demanding role.

Having experimented in the new role by playing club rugby in Australia, Yapp is under no illusions.

“A lot of people assume it would be easy to change over, but it is a completely different position.

“The scrummaging positions and techniques are a lot different and there are a lot of new things to learn.

“Opposition front rows tend to target the tighthead and that is something I am going to have to cope with.”

If we look at Gethin Jenkins's attempts to switch over, with limited success then Yapp faces an uphill struggle, but then again arguably Yapp is the stronger scrummager of the two.

No longer Oh dear Park

London Welsh are clearly a more ambitious club these days, but I would think realistically so. They seem to understand there place in rugby's food chain, if there chief executive Peter Thomas is anything to go by. <Link>

“All the players who come here tell us the standard of rugby is higher here than it is in the Welsh Premiership,”

“We have strong links with Saracens and London Wasps and players know they can put themselves in the shop window by playing here.

“We certainly won’t stand in their way if a contract with a Guinness Premiership club came their way.”

The exiles are now acting almost like a buffer between regional rugby and the Welsh Premiership, the likes of Aled Thomas and Mike Powell may finally find their level next season against the likes of Leeds and Exeter.

With crowds that sneak into four figures at Old Deer Park, even with substantial investment, the sustainability of the club should they make it to the Guinness Premiership is in the short-term questionable, even if they were to finally move to Brentford's football ground.

On all those facets of ill-informed comment, let us know what you think by filling in the box below. It's probably at least 23% more rewarding than just shouting at your computer screen, probably.

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