Inside Welsh rugby's new skills clinics

In recent weeks, the WRU have hosted a number of young Welsh players to improve their skills

Good news stories in Welsh rugby aren’t always that forthcoming.

Frankly, not a week goes by when there isn’t something in the news cycle that doesn’t leave you just a little bit downcast.

One of the better more recent reviews on our Welsh Rugby Podcast was that, at times, it sounded like we were ‘commentating on a funeral from the funeral itself’.

I’m glad for the second half of that review, as I’m firmly against commentating on funerals remotely, but, even with my own dour persona to take into account, it does tend to speak volumes that, in Welsh rugby, we tend to look at the glass as half-empty, rather than half-full.

Sometimes Welsh rugby doesn’t do a brilliant job of shining a light on the good things, rather than the not-so-good.

Perhaps there’s no better example of that than the Welsh Rugby Union’s recent skills clinics, put on over two weeks for around 70 young academy players, with Warren Gatland, Rob Howley, Jonathan Humphreys and U20s coach Richard Whiffin all taking part in the sessions.

Given all the discourse around the lack of contact between the national team coaches and the regions this season - which reached its peak at the end of the Six Nations as Wales stumbled towards a wooden spoon - it felt like an easy win to publicise this one well.

A press release and some photos did come out, but only after the second week. Those asked at the regions for more details to benefit the press handed out the answer that it was the WRU’s event to publicise, but bar that initial release, details have been relatively sparse.

Part of the reason for that is, perhaps, understandable. A list of the 70-odd names was requested from the Union because, if nothing else, it’s interesting to fans of Welsh rugby who might well be the stars of tomorrow being called in to do some extra work at the Vale of Glamorgan base.

That list wasn’t forthcoming, with the reason that they didn’t want it to become a case of who was on it and, more importantly, who wasn’t. Fair enough.

Moving forward, there’ll be more opportunities to make a song and dance about these skill clinics, as this is just the start. With the new Elite Domestic Competition starting this year, alignment across the board should, in theory, only improve.

But how did this initial gathering of some of Welsh rugby’s best youngsters come about?