ROBIN DAVEY SAYS: Slam euphoria has faded fast

11:14am Tuesday 6th May 2008

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THE euphoria of Wales' Grand Slam has long gone and, true to form in Welsh rugby, it has been replaced by more of the traditional gloom and doom.

Less than two months ago we were all on a high after the way Warren Gatland's Wales stormed through the Six Nations, beating all-comers and transforming the national picture after the World Cup disaster.

Since then, apart from the Ospreys winning the EDF Energy Cup, it's been downhill all the way on every front.

The regions, it has to be said, are in a mess after a string of setbacks on and off the field, only Cardiff Blues emerging with much credit after finishing top Welsh team in the Magners League to the surprise of many.

The sorry saga at Stradey Park takes pride of place, so to speak. Just what on earth is going on when within days of returning from a recruitment visit to New Zealand and Australia director of rugby Phil Davies is sacked?

How uncomfortable that trip must have been when chief executive Stuart Gallacher, who accompanied Davies, must have known what was brewing.

Moreover, apart from Davies being totally unaware of his fate as he attended the ground to conduct a training session, he was informed he was dismissed after an admittedly poor season by the Scarlets' standards and told to stay away from Stradey altogether and have nothing to do with the players.

What way was that to treat Davies? And since the shock announcement what have we had? A complete wall of silence.

Nothing from Davies himself as he negotiates his severance package and, worst of all, no comment whatsoever from his employers, Gallacher and chairman Huw Evans, which is letting the loyal fans down terribly, apart from leaving a stack of unanswered questions.

Over to the Ospreys and their failure to go beyond the quarter-finals of the Heineken Cup when they were beaten by the same Saracens team they had hammered in the EDF competition just before, and their Magners League demise.

To score just one try, and that debatable, against a limited Newport Gwent Dragons team was bad enough, but to lose at home to Edinburgh at the weekend was clearly unacceptable for a region with such ambition and so many highly paid players and officials.

It's difficult to see how coach Lyn Jones can survive this, especially with such a wide ranging review of the entire business being conducted by New Zealand import Andrew Hore. Get ready for the arrival of another notable Kiwi in Steve Hansen.

And before those anti-Dragons out there - those wearing the Newport hat and loving to have a go at every opportunity - say that if Jones is under pressure then Paul Turner must be after a dreadful run of eight games without a win, the circumstances are entirely different.

Jones has at his command the most expensively assembled squad ever seen in Welsh rugby - more so than Newport under Tony Brown - yet they have failed to deliver.

Turner, on the other hand, has had to make do with a failing group of players, no current internationals, many players leaving so being less than committed and a board who, shall we say, lack the drive of their rivals and pump little extra money in, again compared with the others.

Just look at last Saturday as an example. Brian O'Driscoll, Felipe Contepomi and Shane Horgan, all world class players, lined up against Jason Tovey, just 19, Gareth Maule and Phil Dollman, also youngsters with little experience at this level. Come on!

Turner does have the drive and the ambition as a Gwent man to make the Dragons succeed, but his hands are tied to a certain extent. Yet he still managed to impress potential newcomers from New Zealand on his recent visit.

Note the comment from Tom Willis, a former All Blacks captain, who is on his way to Rodney Parade to boost the ailing Dragons when he said: "Paul strikes me as a very enthusiastic, progressive and ambitious coach who really wants to move the club forward." Fair enough.

On the subject of Gwent rugby, only promoted Pontypool come out of the season with much credit, now back where they belong in the Premier Division.

Ebbw Vale again ended up as the leading club, though falling away after leading the table, while Newport's huge defeat at Llandovery and the dismissal of their captain for foul, abusive language was a disgrace and brought nothing but shame on the club.

And now to the national front where Gatland's plans for Wales' two-Test visit to the lair of world champions South Africa next month lies in tatters.

Having previously lost key Grand Slam players Mike Phillips, Gavin Henson and Mark Jones to injury, while Alix Popham withdrew because of his impending move to France, Gatland then saw three more top players ruled out at the weekend, Lee Byrne, Dwayne Peel and Martyn Williams, all having to miss the trip and in need of operations.

That amounts to a savage series of blows and the side taking on the Springboks will now bear little resemblance to the one which carried off the Grand Slam.

South Africa are also going through considerable turmoil with a new coach, untried Pieter de Villiers taking over from World Cup winner Jake White, the threat of a players' strike after SARFU's refusal to sanction a move by Bakkies Botha to France, injuries to players like Schalk Burger and the board's refusal to allow more than three players who have moved abroad to be considered for selection.

The tour, therefore, can't live up to it's earlier billing of Southern Hemisphere champions against Northern Hemisphere kings which, on top of all the domestic troubles in Wales, now paints a far less rosy picture than a short while ago.

And while I'm on this rather downbeat subject, just what kind of league is it between the three Celtic nations when there is just one fixture a month while the Six Nations is going on, a host of players bored out of their minds with the lack of activity, then suddenly in the final week of the season a side like the Dragons have to play three games in six days?

It's absolute madness and it's a situation which those in charge of the Magners League have got to sort out.