Steve Tandy's Era Begins With Morgan's Future In Doubt As LRZ Returns
Steve Tandy's Era Begins With Morgan's Future In Doubt As LRZ Returns
Steve Tandy’s first Wales squad sees Jac Morgan’s future uncertain and Louis Rees-Zammit’s headline return, marking a bold new chapter for Welsh rugby.
As Jac Morgan leads Wales into Steve Tandy’s first campaign, Welsh rugby finds itself caught between transition and transformation.
After years of drift, Tandy must build shape, belief and balance in the toughest of circumstances against a murderer's row of opponents in just over a fortnight's time.
Results aside, Welsh Rugby needs positivity.
Getting bums in seats at the sporting cathedral that is the Principality Stadium will require a side that shows progress, that all is not lost, and that, while the road is a long, winding one, it it can be navigated.
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In Morgan, the team has a tireless worker with an old-school engine and a modern edge to lead from the front.
Yet, the irony is sharp: the captain at the heart of the rebuild may not be plying his trade within the Welsh Rugby ecosystem in the near future.
His talks with Saracens have exposed the reality that Welsh rugby is rebuilding while still bleeding its best talent, primarily to clubs across the Severn Bridge.
This, then, is Tandy’s inheritance: a proud nation stripped of certainty, still rich in raw talent, but running short on patience and in desperate need of strong leadership.
Before a ball is kicked in anger on Nov. 9 in Cardiff, here are some key talking points around Welsh Rugby:
A New Coach In A Fragile System
Tandy’s arrival has been met with quiet optimism and cautious relief.
After years of turbulence, the former Ospreys coach represents structure, discipline and a touch of humility.
His track record with Scotland, building one of the most coherent defensive units in the Northern Hemisphere, suggests Wales will at least rediscover shape in its game.
His first squad balances new blood with familiar bruises.
Louis Rees-Zammit, freshly returned from his American football detour, is the headline act. Rhys Carre, Callum Sheedy and five uncapped hopefuls add a blend of power and promise.
The omissions of Tom Bowen, Ross Moriarty and Tommy Reffell may have raised eyebrows, but it shows the depth of quality operators available to Tandy.
Tandy has spoken of “a new time,” and the squad’s profile supports him: an average age of 26, ensuring that he has a squad of players young enough to grow into a new cycle.
Jac Morgan’s Crossroads
Morgan’s potential move to Saracens has unsettled many, but perhaps it shouldn’t. He has been brutally honest: if the Ospreys are cut, he will consider his options. Professional athletes now view geography as an opportunity rather than a hindrance.
Saracens’ interest makes sense.
Morgan is a workhorse with an intelligence that matches his effort. His performances last autumn, with 28 tackles against South Africa, 27 against Australia and 11 from the bench against Fiji, set the standard for his side.
Unfortunately for Morgan, those around him could not match his quality, as Wales fell to three consecutive defeats.
For Wales, losing him would sting on the domestic front but could mark a positive step in his development within a Saracens squad on its way back to the pinnacle of the English game.
Slotting into a star-studded international pack with players who can elevate him, makes huge sense on several fronts.
For Welsh Rugby, it would be the latest example that the romantic notion of the best Welsh talent staying in Wales is feasible at present is a mere pipe dream.
For this previously actual fact to once again become the standard, Welsh Rugby must build systems strong enough that playing for one of their URC sides is the pinnacle outside the international game.
The Capital’s Quiet Revival
Amongst the doom and gloom, one does not have to look far for a beaming ray of light in Welsh Rugby.
Nestled in the heart of the capital, Cardiff Rugby has been a revelation through the opening month of the 2025-2026 United Rugby Championship season, winning three of its opening four fixtures, with two losing bonus points away to Munster being the lone loss to date.
The team is playing an irresistibly intelligent and exciting brand of rugby, with Callum Sheedy pulling the strings and teenage sensation Tom Bowen adding the stardust behind a pack that is fronting up each week.
If Welsh rugby is to climb again, its foundations must come from Cardiff.
The capital’s setup is beginning to produce the kind of players who can survive at the test level: clever, conditioned and calm, with Bowen being the key example.
Sheedy’s recall reflects the rise of the men in blue. His control at fly-half and understanding of tempo are vital to the new system.
On the topic of wing sensation, Bowen, though he didn’t make this squad, stands out for his acceleration and decision-making, making him the next in line. If he can continue his meteoric rise, then Tandy's wing headache will only become worse in the best possible sense come the Six Nations.
Forty-five miles to the west, 20-year-old Morgan Morse is emerging as a modern back-row prototype for the Dragons.
Morse is a physical, intelligent and driven operator who can match the athleticism of the game’s elite. The same can be said for fellow young guns Alex Mann (Cardiff), MacKenzie Martin (Dragons) and James Fender (Ospreys).
Rees-Zammit’s Return: A Marketing Dream
If Morgan is the heartbeat of Welsh Rugby, then Louis Rees-Zammit (LRZ) is the headline.
After an 18-month flirtation with the NFL that saw him sign but never play for the Kansas City Chiefs and Jacksonville Jaguars, the 24-year-old winger is back, quicker and heavier than before.
“I think we’re getting a special athlete and a special mindset,” Tandy said. “He’s definitely faster and bigger since he’s come back. We’ve got to build a game that gets him into it more often.”
Pat Lam, his coach at Bristol, was more direct: “It’s massive for Zam. Wales, and we are hoping he’ll be ready for Argentina.”
Starting with his performances on the pitch, LRZ is an electric talent who is worth the admission fare by himself. Capable of taking broken-field ball to the house from anywhere on the pitch, he instantly elevates those around him.
Off the pitch, he is among the most marketable players in the game in every sense. This is a key point that Welsh Rugby needs to capitalize on, particularly when targeting the next generation of Welsh players.
Making the sport 'cool' to Gen Z and Gen Alpha audiences will be at the forefront of the minds of the marketers tasked with selling the game.
2024's Grim Reading
Last year’s November campaign was a sobering one.
Wales lost heavily to Australia and South Africa, and was bullied by Fiji at key moments. The data told its own story: plenty of ball, little bite.
Across those tests, Wales averaged just 47% possession and 42% territory. The team carried hard, often over 120 times a game, but made fewer line breaks than all three of the opponents.
Up front, the set-pieces wobbled: the scrum won only half of its engagements against South Africa, and the line-out misfired to the tune of a 67% win rate against Australia.
The breakdown was slower, too.
Against Fiji, Wales produced quick ball from only 42% of their rucks; against South Africa, they hit 71%. When the ball did come, the attack was blunt. Of their seven entries into the 22 against the Wallabies, they produced just two tries.
Defensively, effort wasn’t the issue.
Morgan and James Botham topped the tackle charts week after week, yet Wales still conceded seven tries to the Boks, eight to a 14-man Wallabies and somehow fell to a 14-man Fiji, having held a 14-3 lead early in the match.
These are fixable flaws and precisely the kind of problems Tandy specializes in solving, bringing us to where Wales can make some much-needed quick wins.
Tandy’s early gains will come through simplification. Wales needs rhythm, not revolution.
The first fix is the set-piece.
Dewi Lake, Gareth Thomas and Rhys Carre give him the muscle to stabilize the scrum, and Adam Beard’s return should shore up the line-out.
The second is ruck tempo.
Under Tandy, Scotland built its attack on lightning ball speed. Replicating that will let players like Sheedy and Ben Thomas control tempo, rather than chase it.
The third is defensive alignment.
Expect the trademark Tandy system, a connected line that attacks as much as it defends, suffocating space and forcing errors rather than waiting for them.
None of it is glamorous. But that is the point. Wales can't simply change every system in one campaign, but the squad can embed key habits that hold under pressure.
November Goals
The schedule offers no kindness: Argentina, Japan, New Zealand and South Africa in consecutive weeks.
Tandy won’t promise miracles. Two wins from four would be realistic and meaningful.
Argentina is the actual test, a top-8 side with cohesion and bite. Beat Los Pumas, and the noise quiets.
Japan, after Wales’ win in Kobe last summer, should be a chance to refine shape and execution, while offering a relevant indicator of Tandy's early work.
The All Blacks and Springboks remain out of reach for now, given the power game of both teams and Welsh Rugby's poor historical record against both sides, but that isn’t the point.
What matters is staying in those games: defending with structure, exiting with accuracy and showing that Wales can live with the physical intensity for 80 minutes.
If they do that, the scoreline becomes secondary to the message that Tandy and his squad are aiming to send to the Welsh Rugby public.
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