LONG READ Richard Whiffin: 'I 100 per-cent believe Wales has the talent to thrive.'

Minutes after a nerve-jangling 35-25 win over a fast-improving Spanish side, Wales U20’s head coach Richard Whiffin, was the coolest man at the sweltering Payanini Centre in Verona, without a bead of sweat on him as he chatted to RugbyPass about developing Wales’ future stars, ahead of a mouthwatering match up with England in the battle for fifth place at the U20 World Championship.

It’s been a year of notable successes for the former Scarlets attack coach, who spent a year at the Highlanders and spent 11 successful years at London Irish building arguably the best talent production line in the Premiership. Indeed, after 15 years working in coaching in the Premiership, Whiffin can spot a player with X-Factor in a heartbeat.

The 23-13 win over England at a packed out Cardiff Arms Park was a standout, but was not a one-off, and was preceded by a rearguard action against Ireland that had shades of Rorke’s Drift, as Harry Beddall led from the front with 34 tackles, to emerge victorious 20-12. A creditable third place finish meant they travelled to Northern Italy with a spring in their step. A high-scoring thriller against Argentina, in which Wales led for the majority of the game, before being pegged back and having a try agonisingly disallowed minutes before Los Pumitas scored their match-winning try with four minutes to go was a heartbreaker, and this was followed by a 35-21 loss to France, but that scoreline doesn’t tell the full story. Wales led one of the pre-tournament favourites 21-7 at half-time and the lead only drifted away from them in the final quarter when prop Louie Trevett was shown red. It was a courageous, defiant effort.

After placing eighth at last year’s tournament, they aim to best that and on Monday evening they will face the might of close neighbours England, who will be bent on revenge after their Six Nations loss. Cool, calm and collected, Whiffin can only express his pride in his squad going toe-to-toe with countries who dwarf Wales’ resources in player numbers and finances. “Listen, the 12 best teams in the world are all situated in one place and one competition. If you look at us in the Pool stages, we took on a Pumas side that finished fifth last year and qualified for the semi-finals and lost by one converted try. It was a game I feel we should have won. Then against Six Nations Champions France, we gave them a massive run for their money, losing by two scores. We turned over an improving Spain, who are narrowing the gap. Our target is to get into that middle bracket, win the last two games and finish fifth. We are a team who have shown we can take scalps, but we need to grow more depth to ensure consistency for the full 80.”

While the Welsh rugby public will be rooting for Whiffin’s charges to yet again see Dai defeating their metaphorical Goliath, taking a wider-lens view of age-grade development is heartening after a period in which missteps like disbanding the National Academy in 2015 that had reared the likes of Sam Warburton, Leigh Halfpenny and Jonathan Davies, hurt Wales. Those strategic errors are slowly being rectified.
Fundamental to that is the Wales Player Pathway (WPP) that will keep tabs on the most talented Welsh qualified individuals. “There is room for 60 players and we currently have 50 signed up”, smiles Whiffin. “There is space for 10 more and we’re hoping to be at capacity by the end of the year. Of that existing list, we have 15 based over the Bridge and I must stress we are in regular contact. They are Welsh internationals of the future and we need to stay connected.”

It’s worth reiterating what Dave Reddin said when he was announced in post as the WRU’s Director of Rugby. He stressed the need to use the size of our nation as a superstrength.

Short of putting an AirTag on these individuals to keep tabs on them, Whiffin says winning over hearts and minds is key. “We want them to retain that affinity to Wales. The WPP is pilot programme this year, and we’re looking for traction. Next year we want to grow a bit more and have more get-togethers. It’s already been said, but it’s worth reiterating what Dave Reddin said when he was announced in post as the WRU’s Director of Rugby. He stressed the need to use the size of our nation as a superstrength. Everyone can get to the Vale within an hour and we want our best players training together with our best coaches building that understanding.”

Whiffin is well aware the key to identifying youngsters involved in the pathway is like sifting for gold. By the time Whiffin inherits players, they are essentially in finishing school, before hopefully, moving onto the professional game. Talent spotting starts far earlier. “The EPP sites within the Academies start picking up from Dewar Shield level. Talent ID at a regional level starts at U14. Our under 18s coach, Richie Pugh will be across that and start filtering players alongside personnel at the regions. As they start coming through those regional set-ups and play regional U18s level, and they are cherry picked into running out at international U18s level.”

With players reaching maturation at different stages, Whiffin is very happy with his close working relationship with Pugh. “To be honest, I can already see my next three or four U20s teams knowing the depth we’ve got. One thing we’ve built over the couple of years, regarding alignment, or a pathway point-of-view, is a deep understanding of what players are coming through, where they’ll fit in, and any gaps we have. When we get our hands on them, we can really help fast-track their development.”

While the U20s level is a key staging post in bringing Welsh players through, Whiffin is all too aware of the need to work with the universities over Welsh-qualified players. Thirty per cent of the BUCS Super League teams are based in Wales, with Cardiff University and Cardiff Met, and Swansea University, and while England have benefitted with the likes of Sam Underhill, Alex Dombrandt, Tom Pearson and Luke Northmore and on the flip side, being honed in Wales, a number of Welsh players have been reared in English university, with Dafydd Jenkins and Christ Tshiunza notable examples coming through at Exeter University. “You only have to look at our captain, Harry Beddall. He’s a BUCS Super Rugby winner with Hartpury. We’ve had a lot of boys coming through over in Gloucester, Deian Gwynne and Caio James. That’s three Super Rugby winners there. It’s a programme that’s perfectly suited for developing players. In essence, it’s a season-long Anglo-Welsh league, which gives them that rugby pathway alongside that keeping their education alive because breaking into professional rugby is really tough. Only two years ago, English rugby lost nearly two hundred professionals in one season.”

Our job is to make sure we deliver programmes at regional and national level with the WPP that are so appealing players feel moving back to Wales is the best option. These things do take time. There is no quick fix.

There’s another vehicle giving young Welsh players exposure in Super Rygbi Cymru, which has just finished its inaugural season, but Whiffin knows it will take patience before the league floods Wales’ age-grade pathway in meaningful numbers. “We’ve already seen the benefit of Super Rygbi Cymru this year. Players who’ve popped out of the regional system but come back in with us. Guys like Saul Hurley and Neath’s Ellis Lewis. They have played well at community and Super Rugby level and given themselves a chance. Between 20 and 23 is a difficult age for a young player and we are striving to open up more pathways for our young players to get game time.”

Since Gareth Edwards was schooled at Millfield in the Sixties, there has always been a steady stream of Welsh sporting talent slipping over the Bridge for a privileged education. It would be foolhardy to think that stops any time soon, so what is being done to make sure Welsh players are not lured away for good at senior level, with Cardiff born and bred Immanuel Feyi-Waboso’s departure and subsequent success with England a cautionary tale that surely makes the powers-at-be wince in the corridors of CF10? “I am very lucky. I have a strong network in England and a good coaching relationship with the likes of Wayne Thompson at Gloucester, Bath’s Craig Lilley and John Barnes at Bristol. Those West Country clubs are very clear they want the best players at their club whether they’re Welsh, Scottish, Irish and of course English qualified players, because they need the funding. We are open. For us it’s knowing they’re getting high-quality coaching and we have still access to them from an age-grade point of view. Our job is to make sure we deliver programmes at regional and national level with the WPP that are so appealing players feel moving back to Wales is the best option. These things do take time. There is no quick fix.”

When it comes to talent ID, Whiffin, says there are certain specifics they’re looking for. “It all starts with the athlete. Obviously, it is our job to make players better, we can coach the rugby side but as a small nation, we don’t have an abundance of large people. Once we’ve identified the individual, we’ll look at their movement efficiency. In essence, the ability to accelerate and decelerate. Their lateral motion, the ability to move quickly forwards, backwards or sideways. Those key attributes are difficult to coach.”

Whiffin does sound a note of caution around putting too much resource into players who have matured early and dominate collisions in their formative years. “The one’s you need to be smart around are the players who mature very quickly and are possibly dominant at age-grade level. It’s often indicative to look at their parent’s size to consider whether they’ll have more growth. Of course there are outliers, but it’s key indicator of maturation and where they’re going to end up. We look at the athletic potential, but we also analyse skilful players, who seem to have time as a ball player, in terms of how they affect the game.

“I 100 per-cent believe Wales has the talent to thrive. We have the passion for the jersey, the motivation, the geography and we can most definitely produce serious players.

It’s clearly not lost on Whiffin that Welsh rugby has had a tortuous time in recent years. Without a Test win at senior level in two years until the emotional 31-22 win in the suffocating heat of Kobe, he accepts Welsh rugby needs its heroes to inspire the next-generation. His message is that the WRU are leaving no stone unturned in trying to turn the game around for the future of Welsh rugby. “These boys are super proud of playing for Wales at age-grade level and regardless of the senior team’s success or not, they want to get into that red jersey as quickly as possible so they can put their own stamp on it. When they leave us, they know they’re close to breaking through to URC and Test rugby. This lot are seeing friends they were playing with last year now with the national set-up, like Macs Page. Like everyone involved in Welsh rugby, they are desperate for the senior’s boys’ success. We need our younger players to not have that scar issue of previous age-group teams. These guys are used to knocking off bigger nations. It doesn’t faze them.”

Despite the criticism levelled at Welsh rugby in recent years, there is one thing Whiffin is unequivocal on; that Wales can produce gifted individuals. “I 100 per-cent believe Wales has the talent to thrive. We have the passion for the jersey, the motivation, the geography and we can most definitely produce serious players but it’s a numbers game. Population-wise there’s much less room for error.”

Whiffin is bullish about the current crop at his disposal, with a young squad continuing to evolve. ‘After calling up a few boys out here, we have 17 players coming back next year. Outside of the front row, and a few other individuals, the majority will be with us again.”

For the minority who will be looking to move into the professional environment, Whiffin urges patience and fortitude. “Firstly, it’s about getting them used to winning in a Wales jersey and secondly it’s about getting them rugby-ready for the professional game and ready to play in the URC, if called upon. Can they maintain their professionalism and dedication at their regions when they’re not getting a sniff and they may not for a year or two because they’re still not the finished article? It’s about being resilient, waiting for your time but taking it when you get the opportunity, taking it. Coaches are a lot more forgiving if these young boys play with no fear.”