Mike Phillips: Future Lion Basham can emerge as new star of Welsh pack
On the eve of this Six Nations it feels like everybody has already written Wales off. It reminds me of 2008: it was all doom and gloom then too, until we beat England at Twickenham on the opening weekend.
A lot of the Wales players will be coming into this tournament looking for a fresh start. Cardiff beat Leinster in the United Rugby Championship last week but in European competition the Welsh regions have lost 11 games out of 11.
Our tight five is a bit of a worry, but I think our back-row will be more than fine. Dan Biggar will easily pull the ropes at No10 and I like the look of Tomos Williams inside him at No9.
We have an electric starting back three with a good level of depth but I am slightly concerned about the centre options.
Wales undoubtedly have gems in our squad, and you don’t need to look further than Louis Rees-Zammit to see that the future is bright. He scored a great solo effort for Gloucester last weekend.
But for me flanker Taine Basham is the rock star. He’s absolutely solid in his defence, really goes about his job well and I think he will be a British and Irish Lion. Injured Alun Wyn Jones is no spring chicken, so it’s about time Wales looked at who could succeed him as a dominant forward carrier.
The first game is always a bit of a leveller. Neither team will be as hot as they are towards the end of the championship and Wales won’t be favourites at all against Ireland. But they can definitely sneak a win.
When I watch rugby now I want to be entertained. I’m not going to lose any sleep over results anymore – I did that when I was a player. I want to see the game grow, and none of what we saw on last year’s Lions tour, which was dominated by kicking.
I don’t want to see Italy conceding 50 each week, either; uncompetitive matches stop being entertaining. It might be worth looking at how that works in the future.
The Six Nations is the one you watch growing up, and I have plenty of memories of Wales taking some big defeats when I was a kid.
But while that was tough it was still special: the family gathered around the TV, hearing fans bellow out the anthem. It was always a dream of mine to be a part of that and I can’t wait to watch it again this year.
Predictions
| Winner | France |
| Grand Slam? | No |
| Wooden Spoon | Italy |
| Wales’s player of the tournament | Taine Basham |