Tandy on copping flak and his tough Wales calls

Wales boss Steve Tandy on making tough Nations Championship selection calls as he counts down to the 2027 World Cup in Australia. Steve Tandy was defence coach on the British and Irish Lions tour to South Africa in 2021 After over a year and 13 games as Wales head coach, Steve Tandy is getting used to making tough phone calls and then copping flak when his selections are made public. Tandy named his 39-man squad for November's Nations Championship on Tuesday, with the 11am announcement prompting the usual tribal responses. There was delight at the inclusions of uncapped trio Aneurin Owen, Che Hope and Rhys Barratt and recalls for Rio Dyer, Seb Davies, Taine Basham and Gabriel Hamer-Webb.

There was also disappointment at the omissions of Taulupe Faletau, Macs Page, Elliot Dee, Bryn Bradley, Mason Grady and Tommy Reffell, who Tandy later revealed had suffered a knee injury. "There'll be people out there challenging me on selections," said the head coach, who has now named four squads. "No-one really says who they would leave out either, it's always the people that should be in! It's something that comes with the territory." Wales great Faletau still has drive for fourth World Cup Tandy left his role as Scotland's defence coach to call the shots for his country in the summer of