Wales players were spoken to by Wales football boss Craig Bellamy before they left for the Far East
As Wales head into the final week of a long season, the words of Craig Bellamy have suddenly become more relevant.
Wales’ football manager had visited Matt Sherratt’s side prior to them flying out to Japan, offering advice to the squad ahead of their summer tour. The former Liverpool and Cardiff City striker was appointed Wales manager a year ago, following Rob Page’s departure, and has impressed with his approach to the job – ensuring the national team go toe-to-toe with whoever they face.
Naturally, when brought in to speak to Wales’ rugby team, his advice was as strong as you’d expect.
So much so that, as Wales’ losing run at Test level stretched to 18 matches on the weekend, the words Bellamy offered up have become all the more important to players and coaches in Kobe.
It’s understood that the Wales manager explained how, if he was in a team that had lost that many games in a row, he’d be excited at the prospect of being the one who took the initiative and ended the run.
“There were a couple of things that resonated and that was one,” said scrum coach Adam Jones. “He said everyone knows Wales because of the Welsh rugby team.
“As much as it’s where we are now, it’s still a big thing. Welsh rugby is still a big thing in world rugby.
“It’s what we’re known for. There’s a bit of pressure, but on the flipside, the people who turn it around, or get the monkey off our back, it will be pretty special.
“It’ll be relief I’m sure, but it’s going to be a hard old 80 minutes.”
With one last opportunity to end the losing run this season, Wales will be doing everything they can to find the opportunity in Saturday’s second Test, rather than focus on the possibility of 19 consecutive defeats and the pressure that brings.
The 600-odd days without a Test victory have only served to exacerbate the pressure on the players. It has become brutal, with those close to the camp suggesting that the dressing room scenes in Kitakyushu post-match were as despondent as they’d ever seen.
“It wasn’t a great laugh,” added Jones. “Oh no, it’s hard, isn’t it.
“At the end of the day, you’re representing your country. It’s the be all and end all. You put it before everything else.
“You put it before your friends and family. So when you lose for your country, it’s not the worst feeling in the world – there are worse feelings in the world, don’t get me wrong.
“But certainly from a sporting point of view, it’s the worst feeling. Because it’s 18 games, it just magnifies it a wee bit.
“It was tough, it was tough. Especially being in the lead and not seeing it home, really.”
However, one thing Jones is adamant over is just how much this squad care for the jersey – saying they don’t deserve to be experiencing these extreme lows.
“It’s 18 games on the bounce,” he said. “What I’ve noticed from them over the course of the Six Nations and in the last month or so has been, it’s never been for lack of effort.
“They care. They really care and they really want to play. There’s a big thing around the families.
“A lot of history has gone into their jersey and they care about that. Dare I say that there’s been times in the past when there’s been a few players coming through the international system who probably don’t care.
“They just want the cup and they want to represent Wales and the accolades to go with it. This group certainly isn’t like that.
“They’ve done everything since I’ve been involved, to win and unfortunately we’ve come up short. If you look at the last 20 minutes probably a few wounds were being opened and we couldn’t quite get across the line.
“They care massively about the jersey and what it represents and if we don’t win, it’s not going to be a lack of effort. We’ve all lost games and unfortunately at the moment we’re in a pretty big losing streak.
“Even when I was playing, we lost eight games on the bounce. Next year we’re winning a Grand Slam. It comes around quick. They’ll stick at it.
“That one win will give them a little bit of confidence to kick on. They’ve got five weeks after this now, so they’ve put everything into this last game and hopefully get the result we want.
“I know it’s easy to say they deserve it from how they apply themselves, but I’d say what I’ve seen of them, they’re a good group of boys and they don’t deserve to be in this sort of rut and probably in the criticism they’re getting.”
