As a Welshman, I watched the opening weekend of this year’s Six Nations with a mixture of familiarity and unease. Familiarity, because we have seen difficult periods before. Unease, because this one feels deeper.
Much of the attention fell, quite rightly, on the efficiency of France and England, and on Italy’s impressive composure in closing out their win against Scotland. But for those of us with Welsh rugby in our bones, the story was less about the scoreboard and more about what seemed to lie beneath it.
Beyond the scoreboard
One weekend does not tell the whole story. Christian wisdom teaches us to be slow to judge and cautious about drawing sweeping conclusions. And yet wisdom also teaches us to attend to patterns over time. What struck me most in conversations with fellow Welsh supporters was not anger or outrage, but a weary uncertainty. Expectations were low. More telling still was how hard it was to articulate what renewal might actually look like — how change could be brought about, and who would bear the cost.
Do today's children lack embodied childhood experiences?
When I was a boy growing up in Wales, World Cups arrived with a particular smell: the smell of a …