ARE THE SCARLETS SUFFERING FROM A CASE OF THE 1990S?
Our love went bad, times got hard, Now I work down at the carwash Where all it ever does is rain, Don't you feel like you're a rider on a downbound train - Downbound Train (1984)
It is a lot to call for the head of someone and it is something that should not be taken lightly by any means. This is not a spur of the moment "sack 'iiiim" call but it has been though out for many months, possibly over a year but something needs to be changed at Parc Y Scarlets and the man that should be held responsible is Easterby. If this was football he would have been ousted a long time ago, fans would have booed him out of Llanelli and executives wouldn't have given him the time of day. But this is rugby and this is Wales, things don't work like that.
If the Scarlets had lost one or two over the last few seasons then that would be acceptable but the bottom line is that they have not only lost a lot of games but they have lost them badly. Having finished in the Pro 12 top 4 last season things seemed to be looking up for the men in red but alas on the opening evening of the new season the Scarlets lost 19-42 in front of a home crowd. Since then the West Walians have gone on to lose against Glasgow and the Dragons whilst managing wins against Edinburgh and Treviso.
It isn't necessarily the score line that has made the Scarlets fans angry, it is the quality of play. If a team plays well and loses then people can accept it but if a team continuously lose by making silly, school boy errors then patients will wear thin. The number of times that Scarlets head coach, Simon Easterby, has used the word "disappointed" or "terrible" in a post match interview has already been expansive only a few games in to the season. I even think the word embarrassed was also used - I think this says enough about the recent form of the Welshmen.
One thing that must frighten not only the Scarlets but all Welsh regions is the potential end to what we know now as the Heineken Cup. If the European championship comes to an end then that means the WRU will lose millions of pounds that they would usually distribute amongst the four Welsh regions. With a significant reduction in funds the regions, and especially the Scarlets who have already had to say goodbye to Lion George North, will not be able to afford to keep hold of their most valuable players. With regions not playing particularly well already, the loss of the likes of Halfpenny or Jonathan Davies will see the regions slide down a very slippery slope, and not the fun kind you find at Centre Parks but one that will take you a very long time to find your way back up to dry land.
Over the years the Scarlets have had coaches that have been connected to the club one way or another. Nigel Davies was an ex-player and so was Gareth Jenkins. Maybe a coach that has no ties with the club is the way forward - someone who has the benefit of an outsider's viewpoint, one with no bias or political motives, a neutral. It's simple, the Scarlets need to pushed outside of their comfort zone by someone who they know as a coach rather than a friend.
Players such as Lion Jonathan Davies have already made it clear that as a rugby player your main goal is to win trophies be that with club or country and if the Scarlets don't improve and become contenders for the top spot in the Pro 12 and the Heineken Cup (if it's still around) then they are more than happy to follow fellow Welshmen such as Jamie Roberts and Mike Phillips over the English Channel to French clubs who work hard week in week out and see the results with walls plastered in trophies and not cobwebs.
It's a tense time for the Pro 12 clubs as they await the future of the Heineken but the Scarlets and Easterby are facing more pressure than most. If Easterby does not leave then he has to change something. The Scarlets, like all other regions, must win. They must win not only for their own self esteem but also for the supporters and for the future of Welsh rugby both regionally and internationally. If they won't or if they can't then only time will tell what's in store for rugby fans across Wales. Something tells me it won't resemble the celebrations of the 70s, songs won't be written about it and maybe people will just try to forget. The Scarlets might just be going through a 90s phase, you know a phase when they just can not win and however hard they attempt to improve they keep taking steps backwards like the Welsh team of the 1990s. For the sake of the region I hope the Grand Slam winning 00's are on their way.
It is a lot to call for the head of someone and it is something that should not be taken lightly by any means. This is not a spur of the moment "sack 'iiiim" call but it has been though out for many months, possibly over a year but something needs to be changed at Parc Y Scarlets and the man that should be held responsible is Easterby. If this was football he would have been ousted a long time ago, fans would have booed him out of Llanelli and executives wouldn't have given him the time of day. But this is rugby and this is Wales, things don't work like that.
If the Scarlets had lost one or two over the last few seasons then that would be acceptable but the bottom line is that they have not only lost a lot of games but they have lost them badly. Having finished in the Pro 12 top 4 last season things seemed to be looking up for the men in red but alas on the opening evening of the new season the Scarlets lost 19-42 in front of a home crowd. Since then the West Walians have gone on to lose against Glasgow and the Dragons whilst managing wins against Edinburgh and Treviso.
It isn't necessarily the score line that has made the Scarlets fans angry, it is the quality of play. If a team plays well and loses then people can accept it but if a team continuously lose by making silly, school boy errors then patients will wear thin. The number of times that Scarlets head coach, Simon Easterby, has used the word "disappointed" or "terrible" in a post match interview has already been expansive only a few games in to the season. I even think the word embarrassed was also used - I think this says enough about the recent form of the Welshmen.
One thing that must frighten not only the Scarlets but all Welsh regions is the potential end to what we know now as the Heineken Cup. If the European championship comes to an end then that means the WRU will lose millions of pounds that they would usually distribute amongst the four Welsh regions. With a significant reduction in funds the regions, and especially the Scarlets who have already had to say goodbye to Lion George North, will not be able to afford to keep hold of their most valuable players. With regions not playing particularly well already, the loss of the likes of Halfpenny or Jonathan Davies will see the regions slide down a very slippery slope, and not the fun kind you find at Centre Parks but one that will take you a very long time to find your way back up to dry land.
Over the years the Scarlets have had coaches that have been connected to the club one way or another. Nigel Davies was an ex-player and so was Gareth Jenkins. Maybe a coach that has no ties with the club is the way forward - someone who has the benefit of an outsider's viewpoint, one with no bias or political motives, a neutral. It's simple, the Scarlets need to pushed outside of their comfort zone by someone who they know as a coach rather than a friend.
Players such as Lion Jonathan Davies have already made it clear that as a rugby player your main goal is to win trophies be that with club or country and if the Scarlets don't improve and become contenders for the top spot in the Pro 12 and the Heineken Cup (if it's still around) then they are more than happy to follow fellow Welshmen such as Jamie Roberts and Mike Phillips over the English Channel to French clubs who work hard week in week out and see the results with walls plastered in trophies and not cobwebs.
It's a tense time for the Pro 12 clubs as they await the future of the Heineken but the Scarlets and Easterby are facing more pressure than most. If Easterby does not leave then he has to change something. The Scarlets, like all other regions, must win. They must win not only for their own self esteem but also for the supporters and for the future of Welsh rugby both regionally and internationally. If they won't or if they can't then only time will tell what's in store for rugby fans across Wales. Something tells me it won't resemble the celebrations of the 70s, songs won't be written about it and maybe people will just try to forget. The Scarlets might just be going through a 90s phase, you know a phase when they just can not win and however hard they attempt to improve they keep taking steps backwards like the Welsh team of the 1990s. For the sake of the region I hope the Grand Slam winning 00's are on their way.
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