PETER JACKSON

THE MAN TRULY IN THE KNOW

As Wales ‘wails over the embarrassing state of its national sport’, a club coach raises an issue of piercing perception: “Is the pull of the Welsh jersey as strong as it used to be? That’s the question.’’
Chris James, contact-area coach of Cross Keys and regional age-grade coach of Cardiff, doesn’t hesitate to give an answer, one that makes this Six Nations whitewash more alarming than the last one a generation ago.
“No,” he says. “Sad to say, it’s not.” For a Welshman ‘proud and passionate’ of his country and his birth into a Welsh-speaking famil...