Former Wales international Tom Shanklin shared his views last week and now Jiffy has weighed in on the call
Wales legend Jonathan Davies (Image: WalesOnline)
Jonathan ‘Jiffy’ Davies thinks Welsh starlet Tom Bowen deserves to be in the Wales squad. The Cardiff Rugby youngster has been in electric form this season with a hat-trick against Munster his highlight moment this campaign.
Tandy named his 39-player squad for the upcoming autumn internationals last week with five uncapped players included in the collective. Brodie Coghlan, James Fender, Morgan Morse, Danny Southworth and Louie Hennessey were those given the opportunity this time around but there was no place for Bowen this time.
Speaking on the latest episode of ‘Beefy & Beaumont’ with cricket legend Sir Ian Botham and rugby icon Sir Bill Beaumont, Davies touched on the absence of Bowen.
Beaumont had addressed the form of two wingers – Noah Caluori and Bowen – with all three noting the former’s sheer height after impressing with five tries in one game for Saracens, which has now earned him an England call-up.
“Tom Bowen – he is the total opposite,” explained Davies. “He’s about 4ft 2in! But what he does is beat people. With Wales when you had Shane (Williams), he had that little bit extra, beat that first line of defence and then you get quick ball and then there is space out wide. Maybe even now I think Tom Bowen deserves to get into the national side.
“He has the ability to do something out of nothing and we haven’t got a lot of players who can do that. People question his defence but we haven’t really seen that yet, his frailties.
“I do think, in the position that where we are – do we nurture him or do we throw him in? That’ll be a decision that Steve Tandy has to make when he sees him in training.
Tom Bowen in action for Cardiff(Image: Huw Evans Picture Agency)
“A friend of mine, his son plays in the under-20s for Wales – Stef Emanuel. I saw Tom play against Swansea for Cardiff the year before last and he scored a hat-trick out of nothing! And he has kept on doing that into the next stage of his development.
“Let’s see what does happen in the next few months because the autumn is going to be a severe test of the rugby boys but also for the Union to see what affect the discussion on the regions is going to have on the national side, to see how many people are going to actually watch them.”
This autumn, Wales face Argentina, Japan, New Zealand and South Africa in a stern test for Tandy and his players to kick-start a new era.
While Bowen has not been selected this time, at just 19 he has plenty of time to break into the international set-up. If he continues his fine form for Cardiff once club rugby resumes, there is no reason why Tandy wouldn’t go for him in early 2026.
In an interview with WalesOnline last week, former Wales international Tom Shanklin revealed why he agreed with the decision to leave Bowen out of the squad.
“I think the other big news is obviously Tom Bowen as well, not making the squad and I think it’s right,” he said. “Loads of people would disagree but he hasn’t played that many games and it’s important we look after our players. We’ve seen it with so many youngsters before where they’ve had a couple of good games for their region and they’ve been thrown into international rugby.
“Wales aren’t a team that is winning at the moment, it’s a tough environment to go in and you’re just going to expose the guy to South Africa, to New Zealand, to Argentina where it’s going to be tough and you don’t want players like Tom Bowen to lose all the confidence they’ve got.
“So I think it’s important that we do look after players and we bring them in slowly and gently. Maybe we might see him training with the squad which would be a great experience for him.
“I think that would be the best thing for him would be to train with a Welsh team to find out what it’s like, to see the levels of intensity which would be completely different. But look after him, let him have more games. He’s played eight games I think in all for Cardiff.
“He’s had a great start to the season but carry on that form and then look again in February for the Six Nations because it’s a tough position to crack as well. Josh Adams – Lions, plenty of experience. Louis Rees-Zammit – another Lion, plenty of experience. Blair Murray – Welsh player of the year. So I agree with the decision, I think it’s a smart decision.”
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