Sacking Jenkins would be ridiculous - trouble is we are not

You'd have to be a special kind of optimist to give Wales any chance of avoiding a good hiding when they play France in Paris on Saturday. But they weren't given much chance in Paris two years ago either. Wales not only beat the French but went on to win the Grand Slam, if you remember, and I suggest they employ the same tactics as they did then: come out fighting and hang on grimly.

If you had been in Wales over the past week you'd think it was hardly worth them going at all. The place has been full of cuckoo- mad inquests and knee-jerk reactions after the shoddy display against Scotland last weekend. Led by the Western Mail, they've been calling for head coach Gareth Jenkins, all his assistant coaches and captain Stephen Jones to be sacked immediately, if not run out of the country altogether.

Even by Welsh standards it has been hysterical, and has featured more senseless guff than I can remember. Overkill was hardly the word for it, and it was rounded off nicely by a shock report that the defeated Welsh had a drink after the match. There was even a picture of the bar they drank in.

If they'd had a drink before the game I could understand the uproar but, however badly you play, mulling it over together with a beer afterwards is part of the healing process. That they did so with their coach's approval didn't matter so much as the fact that they shouldn't have been out enjoying themselves.

I doubt if they were enjoying it. Perhaps it would have been wiser to find a quieter place, but with 20,000 Welsh fans in Edinburgh there would not have been a square inch of drinking space not occupied by a disgruntled Taff.

No one can deny that it was a poor performance and that the prospect is bleak, but with players returning from injury there are more options available and they must be given a chance.

Sacking Jenkins is a ridiculous idea. He has to take the flak full-on and has been prepared to do so, but stepping up to international standard from club level is very difficult. This applies to coaches as much as players, and Jenkins will be learning very quickly.

Success in the Six Nations is all about team selection, and Jenkins faced the match against Ireland with precious little choice available among his backs. Injuries to Tom Shanklin, Sonny Parker, Shane Williams and Mark Jones wiped out an entire threequarter line, and the banning of Gareth Thomas added another cruel blow. I said it was extremely harsh given the timing, and you can't calculate the effect it has had on Wales.

As for Stephen Jones, I believe he is not playing very differently from the way he performed in the Grand Slam year. What is different is the quality and the form of the men around him. There's no one running off him like Gavin Henson and Shanklin did two years ago, and as a result his options have been drastically reduced.

Until he gets more game-time at No 10, James Hook is not the answer. Neither is he the answer at No 12. I would put Shanklin in that position and move Hook to outside-centre. The centre partnership of Hook and Jamie Robinson in the first two games didn't work because although they are good players they are not hard- yardage merchants, and that's what Wales needed.

There was criticism of Jenkins for leaving Martyn Williams on the bench after hooker Rhys Thomas finished his sin-binning. But as well as Williams had been playing he was getting nowhere, because Wales were not winning ball and going forward. Sending Jonathan Thomas on instead helped to fix the line-out and provided a much-needed ball- carrier. Perhaps he could have brought off someone else, but you could see what he was trying to do. The need for ballcarriers will probably bring Colin Charvis into the team, but the loss of Kevin Morgan is a big blow.

What should have exercised Welsh minds was not a hunt for scapegoats but the realisation that there is a serious shortage of up-and-coming talent. We are not developing players. Hook is a rarity. It won't improve until Wales appoint the high-performance director they are seeking.

Until then, any coach would have to pray for injuries to keep away, and that's not happening.

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