Wales look like missing out again

AS Wales 'wails over the embarrassing state of its national sport', a club coach raises an issue of piercing perception: "Is the pull of the Welsh jersey as strong as it used to be? That's the question."

- PETER JACKSON

Chris James, contact-area coach of Cross Keys and regional age-grade coach of Cardiff, doesn't hesitate to give an answer, one that makes this Six Nations whitewash more alarming than the last one a generation ago.

"No," he says. "Sad to say, it's not." For a Welshman 'proud and passionate' of his country and his birth into a Welsh-speaking family from Fishguard, the question could not possibly be of greater personal relevance to any of his compatriots, however proud and passionate, than it is right now for Chris James.

Why? Because his teenaged son, Kane, is the latest example of a Welsh player blazing a winning trail for England, in his case as a member of the Red Roses' unbeaten run to the Six Nations U20's title.

That Exeter have wasted no time rewarding him with a four-year contract says everything about the potential of a multi-purpose back row forward who turns 19 next week.

He is not the first of the brightest and best of Wales' youngest generation to be secured on long-term contracts by the Chiefs of the English Premiership.

Immanuel Feyi-Waboso led the way in spectacular fashion, illuminating Twickenham with his first start for England when they dared to ambush Ireland's second successive Grand Slam a fortnight ago. The roads taken by 'Manny' and Kane bear a series of striking similarities.

They went to the same school, Corpus Christi in Cardiff. They learnt the game from an early age at two of the capital's junior clubs, barely a mile apart in adjacent eastern districts.

Feyi-Waboso began at Rumney RFC at the age of ten, James at St.Peter's RFC from the age of seven.