Wales miss out on the great SA invasion

When it comes to wrapping South Africans up in their national colours, Wales stand apart from the rest of the Six Nations. They have not picked one in seven years.

- PETER JACKSON

A fortnight ago in Dublin, Scotland and Ireland capped seven in one match. The visitors produced four – Jaco van der Walt, Duhan van der Merwe, Willem Nel and Ollie Kebble. Their hosts almost matched them man for man with CJ Stander, Rob Herring and Quinn Roux.

Traditionalists may be tempted to applaud the Welsh refusal to follow the common herd, to see them in a romantic light, an isolated case of a country clinging to the battered old concept of a national XV composed entirely of native players. The reality is rather different.

It’s not as if the WRU has been claiming any moral ground on an emotive topic, more a case that the would-be Springboks imported by all four regions in recent years have not measured up to Test selection.

The Scots and Irish would appear to have been considerably better at identifying Test players in the making and developing them while in the process of qualifying through residence, a period to be increased from three years to five with effect from next month.

Certainly, they have had an infinitely higher conversion rate. Wales over the last ten years have managed the grand total of one – Andries Pretorius whose Test career began in Osaka against Japan in June 2013 and ended in Tokyo the following week.