Rhys Carre’s rise from the depths of a very public World Cup rejection has become the feelgood story that keeps on giving for Welsh rugby fans who have desperately sought inspiration.
Small shoots of recovery apparent during an agonising Six Nations home defeat against Scotland continued the growth process as Wales went toe to toe with Ireland in Dublin. It might have been a 27-17 loss and 15th successive Six Nations reversal, but it was also comfortably the best performance of head coach Steve Tandy’s eight-game reign.
And Saracens prop Carre was at the heart of it, not only in his bread-and-better scrummaging work, but through scoring the most celebrated try by a Wales front-row forward since Graham Price ran more than half the length of Parc des Princes 51 years ago.
Price’s score after he chased kicks from lock Geoff Wheel, himself and wing JJ Williams caused BBC commentator Nigel Starmer-Smith to exclaim: “They’ll never believe it in Pontypool.” Similarly incredulous thoughts accompanied Carre’s 30-metre solo effort that saw him throw a half-dummy pass, brush off Ireland wing Robert Baloucoune and then sprint through the gap he had created.
The beaming smile and celebration said it all as Carre became only the sixth starting prop to score tries in three successive Tests – he also touched down against France and Scotland – emulating Chris Koch, Jona Qoro, Sergei Molchanov, Rod Snow and Levan Chilachava.
Far more importantly, though, another high-class performance continued his resurgence after Tandy’s predecessor Warren Gatland dumped Carre from a preliminary training squad for the 2023 World Cup three months before the tournament.
The announcement came in a 47-word Welsh Rugby Union statement that read: “Rhys Carre has been released from the Wales senior men’s preliminary training squad for Rugby World Cup 2023. Following ongoing discussions between the player and the Wales coaching team, Carre has failed to meet individual performance targets set at the end of the 2023 Guinness Six Nations.”
Carre, who was in his second spell at Cardiff before rejoining Saracens a year later, never featured for Wales under Gatland again, but Tandy had a different view and selected him ahead of this season’s autumn Tests after receiving approval from the Welsh game’s Professional Rugby Board despite Carre being five caps short of the 25 required under WRU selection policy for players plying their trade outside Wales.
Little wonder, then, that Tandy was enthused by the latest return on an investment in a player whose week had started with confirmation of him agreeing a new contract at Saracens and prompted their rugby director Mark McCall to speak of his “inspiring resurgence”, while Tandy added: “He has been a massive credit.
“I think all of the plaudits should go to Rhys in and around how he has come back into the environment, how he has been open, the mindset he has brought in and the way he trains. There is competition being built in that [loosehead prop] area.
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“I think Nicky Smith is putting pressure on Rhys, and you’ve got Gareth Thomas as well. There is lots of pressure, and I think that is building competition which we need in our squad, but you can’t take anything away from Rhys. He is playing really well at the minute, but I believe there is much more to come from him as well, which is exciting.”
The Wales squad left Dublin with levels of optimism not apparent since the last World Cup, although defeat against Italy in Cardiff next Saturday would mean a third successive wooden spoon, while Ireland face a Triple Crown decider at home to Scotland, chasing a fourth clean sweep of the home nations in five years.
Photography by AP Photo/Peter Morrison