Roberts goes in hard, like he always did

PETER JACKSON

THE MAN TRULY IN THE KNOW

Some ex-internationals looking to reinvent themselves as pundits struggle because they fail to recognise that criticising former team-mates goes with the territory. Jamie Roberts is most certainly not one of them.

His straight-from-the-shoulder reaction to Wales’ hitting rock bottom against Georgia sounded as though he had graduated with flying colours from the Roy Keane school of Tell-It-As-You-Saw-It.

Roberts wasted no time questioning head coach Wayne Pivac and his trio of specialist coaches, all of whom he knows well. In doing so he gave the viewers what they wanted, an honest opinion of the shambles they had witnessed, one delivered without fear or favour.

Compare and contrast that to ex-Wales football captain Ashley Williams’ verdict on the national team’s beating by Iran at the FIFA World Cup. Far from acknowledging that Wales had been outplayed for the entire second half, Williams damned Iran by faint praise, conceding only that ‘they shaded Wales a little bit’.