The late, great Mervyn Davies once fondly recalled being part of a group of Londoners Wales internationals who would get up at 4am, pile into a classic Mini and bomb the border for national squad training.
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Traveling with 6ft 5in Merve the Swerve clubmates, JPR Williams, John Taylor, John Dawes and Mike Roberts, all crammed into a small car, while Geoff Evans occasionally made the weekly trip depending on choice. They would train with Wales before driving straight back to London for their day jobs on Monday morning.
The past, as they say, is a foreign country; they do things differently there.
Welsh players lighting up the English club scene is nothing new, but Nicky Smith, Tomas Francis, Aaron Wainwright and Tommy Reffell are suspected to be on offer for a shade more comfort if they have to travel across the Severn Bridge on Wales duty in the coming weeks.
The same goes for Jac Morgan, Dewi Lake, Louis Rees-Zammit, Kane James and Dafydd Jenkins. “Pull it together, Duff, there’s not much room in the back,” aren’t words anyone’s likely to hear from Rees-Zammit any time soon.
Different times, indeed.
But the impact the 2026 Welsh exiles are having across the border will thrill Wales coach Steve Tandy as much as his predecessor Clive Rowlands enjoyed the ethereal displays of the London Welsh brigade in their early 1970s heyday.
Perhaps we can say that the best result of the term so far has come from Tomos Williams for Saracens against Leicester.
He didn’t just show flashes of individual brilliance, he also controlled things with rare authority. After the game was over, you got the feeling he would have brought calm to Europe’s craziest roundabout, had the 75-cap scrum-half been given traffic control duties at Place de l’Etoile for the afternoon.
Lake started life at his new club with a man of the match display for Gloucester against Exeter, while Tommy Reffell received the same accolade after making 29 tackles and picking up four turnovers for Leicester Tigers in their victory Newcastle Red Bulls.
Speaking of stats, Rees-Zammit deserves to be brought into the discussion with two tries, five clean breaks, seven defenders beaten and 79 meters for Bristol against Harlequin.
Speaking of stats, Rees-Zammit deserves to be brought into the discussion with two tries, five clear breaks, seven defenders beaten and 79 meters made for Bristol against Northampton Saints. At times, the Midlanders could be forgiven for feeling there were three Rees-Zammits on the pitch.
All that plus extremely strong efforts from Morgan, Wainwright, James and Smith.
Reasons for encouragement for Tandy, then? Absolutely.
And yet, it’s still hard to imagine a coach shouting ‘bring the world’ to anyone willing to listen any time soon. First, because bragging is not Tandy’s style; secondly, because they will know that in certain areas Wales still lack depth at elite level.
Thomas Francis showed in Six Nations he could still anchor the scrum. But if he is tweezed off the board, Wales would hit problems on an industrial scale: because without him there is no ready-made, mature No. 3 capable of holding its own against the best. Coach-speak might spin such a scenario as an ‘opportunity’ for someone else, but make no mistake – old Mother Hubbard’s closet would look healthier than Tandy’s.
At fly-half, Dan Edwards, Sam Costelow and Jarrod Evans were the favorite sons last term, but ask three different Welsh supporters who should wear the 10 shirt and you’ll get three different answers. Divided opinion is nothing new when discussing the Welsh fly-half position, but it’s hard to argue that anyone has really claimed the shirt in this era.
What about the numbers behind Blair Murray at fullback, especially now that Rees-Zammit has made it clear he wants to play on the wing, where the jet-powered one is so obviously happiest and most dangerous? Dragons youngster Huw Anderson has a lot going for him, but Wales clearly need to see more.
Do Wales have enough big ball-carriers in their pack or enough ready-to-move locks piling pressure on each other?
There are more questions in the center. Joe Hawkins appeared at 12 for most of the Six Nations but started the URC campaign on the bench for the Scarlets, who seem to prefer the sturdy Eddie James in that role, despite Tandy and Matt Sherratt employing him at 13.
Also, do Wales have enough big ball carriers in their pack or enough ready locks to put pressure on each other? Former Wales scrum-half Brynmor Williams said that when he took to the field on Saturday he knew there were six or seven rivals doing the same and all with the national No 9 design. Competition on this scale raises standards.
But Tandy will conclude that barely 12 months ago he was given not so much an unsorted puzzle as one with pieces scattered on the floor. Putting everything together takes skill, patience and time.
On the domestic front, there were quietly uplifting signs. If the relatively diminutive Murray still has work to do to be the man he’d most like to see in catch position if forced to jump off a tall building, Scarlets The full-back has many other fine attributes, chief among which is his running, which is smooth, quick and sharp.
He can also kick and provide an antidote to the lack of creativity around him in the Wales back line. In two games for his region this term, he has already beaten 11 defenders and got close to 140 metres.
While working at 12, James looked powerful and there were great wing efforts from team-mate Max Page, Cardiff’s Tom Bowen and Dragons’ Rio Dyer. Page’s try against the Dragons was special: collecting some 65m, the little Scarlet burned past the starting cover on the outside arc, regrouped his chip in front and took off.
Tandy have plenty of options in the back line, including Kane James, who Exeter play against Bath it was surprising for a player who had started only his second game of Premiership rugby.
The West Walian needs to tighten up his defence, but has plenty of attacking gifts and is a player who has the ability to produce moments to remember.
Even so, perhaps the more experienced Dyer will hold extra appeal for the Wales selectors at this stage, especially after his effort with ball in hand last weekend.
At times the Scarlets players appeared to have stumbled upon an obscure bylaw that forbids tackling Rio Dyer between 3pm and 5pm on Saturdays. By the end of overtime, he had beaten 10 defenders.
Wing is an area where Wales have a number of contenders for places, so we can’t say for sure if Dyer will go through. But his effort against the Scarlets led to no small poke in the ribs for Tandy.
Harrison Keddie and Taine Basham have also caught the eye, with Basham a Wales striker who can carry the ball. But Tandy have plenty of options in the back line, including Kane James, whose performance for Exeter against Bath was stunning for a player starting just his second game of Premiership rugby.
No doubt Che Hope will rate a mention in scrum-half discussions, although Tomos Williams, Kieran Hardy and Reuben Morgan-Williams are established options.
A low pressure system that stubbornly refuses to switch, then, but with the odd break in the gray. One win will be the minimum requirement for mild positivity this fall; two successes will be encouraging; three will lead to calls for a statue of Tandy to be erected in Cardiff city center and for the man himself to be made an OBE before the month is out.
The coach won’t look that far.
There may not be a crowded Mini in sight in modern Wales. But the right way? That’s what Tandy and his players will be looking to find in the coming weeks.
The autumn will tell us a lot about where Wales is going.