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The England coach has been speaking about how he expects Wales to play in next month’s Six Nations opener
16:06, 27 Jan 2026
Last week, England head coach Steve Borthwick claimed on a podcast that he expects Wales to put up around 50 contestable kicks in their Six Nations opener at Twickenham next month.
Up in Edinburgh for the Six Nations launch at the start of this week, Borthwick couldn’t resist repeating the notion that Steve Tandy’s side will kick the leather off the ball.
Again, the idea of 50 kicks was brought up – even prompting a question to be asked of Tandy and whether he’d heard that particular prediction.
“I haven’t heard it today! It’s a big number!”
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The Wales coach isn’t wrong.
On average in his first campaign in charge, Wales made around 26 kicks per match. The most they managed, in the win over Japan, was 31.
And, of course, that includes kicks of all kinds in play, rather than just contestable ones.
So maybe, just maybe, 50 kicks to compete is a little far-fetched – unless Wales are about to make a remarkable leap forward in that facet of the game.
But, just as Borthwick did with the other facets of a Tandy team – two-man tackles to slow down speed of ball in defence – he’s got the basic premise right enough.
Wales are likely going to be a kick-heavy team, looking to make the most of the talent they have out wide.
With the likes of Tom Rogers, Louis Rees-Zammit, Josh Adams, Gabriel Hamer-Webb and Mason Grady in their ranks, they have personnel who can not only compete in the air – but can finish off what Wales make of the crumbs too.
But, while there’s a sense that Wales are trying to make the most out of their current playing pool, given there’s a lack of brutish ball-carrying options, it’s also the case that they are following an undeniable trend in the world’s game.
In the space of two years, the number of kicks in Test rugby has risen, according to Opta, from around 50 a game to 56.
The average length of kicks has fallen by around six metres, while box-kicks and bombs have increased. Kicking for territory is down.
With teams unable to protect players in the backfield with escort runners, it’s significantly harder to retain possession from high balls.
Teams are not catching the ball cleanly as often as they used to, meaning there’s more opportunities to play from those scraps, when defences aren’t set.
“You see the game now, in and around the laws with how quickly you can get to the catcher,” said Tandy in Edinburgh this week. “Teams are probably winning one in four clean.
“It’s around what happens off that, creating unstructured moments. We enjoy being in that.
“We’ve got some talented, skilful players in Wales. It’s trying to break the game up as much as possible.
“It’s trying to get out of arm wrestles as much as possible. That’s the game at the minute.
“Once you get into the 22s, it’s hard to get out.
“The momentum that builds, with yellow cards. I think where you’ve opened the game up in one aspect, around creating collisions, there’s probably more kicking.
“Because you know when you get to the other end of the field, things like discipline and the mindset of referees around offside is creating more space. So making sure you’re the right end of the pitch is a big part of the game too.”
Every team, whether they like it or not, sees the way the game is going. Some have been critical, like Ireland’s Tadhg Beirne – who said the style of the game had “gone backwards”.
Borthwick himself was outspoken on it a couple of years ago, saying he wasn’t sure “everyone wants to watch more kicking and more scrums.”
For what it’s worth, England kicked more in the autumn than Wales.
Wales know the value of the aerial game at the moment. Wales’ one new face in the Six Nations squad, Hamer-Webb, told WalesOnline last week that being strong in the air is no long just an option.
“Teams that don’t have the ability to do that, it’s a weak spot that you can go after,” said the Leicester wing.
Perhaps, in the not-too-distant future, Wales will hire a coach to Tandy’s backroom staff to look after that particular area of the game.
Maybe, if the backlash continues, World Rugby will tinker with the laws once more to change the way the game looks once more.
But until they do, perhaps going to the skies offers Wales and Tandy the quickest route possible to being a competitive Test nation once again.
But maybe just not putting boot to ball quite as often as Borthwick expects.
