Jenkins' selection policy hinders drive of sole Welsh survivors

Still in with a shout for the Heineken European Cup are three English clubs, three French clubs, two Irish Provinces and one Welsh club. They are, respectively and alphabetically: Gloucester, Leicester and Northampton; Biarritz, Bourgoin and Toulouse; Leinster and Munster; and Llanelli.

This reflects fairly accurately the various national strengths. Perhaps Scotland are unlucky not to have a single representative because their present strength is about on a par with that of Wales. But then, Glasgow and Edinburgh, who were demolished by Toulouse on Sunday, are made-up sides. I feel Scotland would do better in the competition if some of the old clubs, Gala or Hawick, Edinburgh Wanderers or Watsonians, were there instead.

The Irish Provinces are different. As I wrote last week (and I think it bears repetition), they are part of Irish history. And any newly created Welsh provinces – a proposal that now seems to be dead in the water – would, I am pretty sure, have fared even worse than the Welsh clubs have done. As it is, the failure of Cardiff, formerly one of the world's great sides, and of Neath, Newport and the almost equally great Swansea, does not provide much cheer for the Wales coach, Steve Hansen.

The national honour once again depends on Llanelli, as it has done for several seasons past in this increasingly interesting competition. Llanelli's performance against Sale on Friday was not especially encouraging, whether for Hansen or for his Llanelli counterparts Gareth Jenkins – who should, in my opinion, be doing Hansen's job with the national side, but that is another story.

Sale were the better side and deserved to win. They outscored the home team by two tries to one. Once again Llanelli relied on Stephen Jones's boot. If Sale had possessed a Jones – their regular kicker was injured – they would undoubtedly have won. I know perfectly well that to add up tries scored by each side is not always a true indication of the justice of the result. But on this occasion it was.

What was worrying to someone who wishes the club well – and what detracts somewhat for my otherwise high regard for Jenkins – is that many, though not all, of the side's failings could be put down to simple errors of selection. It was extraordinary, for example, that Llanelli could both start and finish a match of such importance without a specialist open-side flanker. They had Simon Easterby on one side of the back row and Dafydd Jones on the other with Scott Quinnell in the middle.

At half-time Quinnell went off with injured ribs, to be replaced by the Californian David Hodges. He proved a distinct improvement, scored the crucial solitary try from a cross-kick by Matthew Watkins and was deservedly made man of the match.

Irrespective of whether it was Quinnell or Hodges at No 8, the release of the ball from the Llanelli scrum was a thorough mess. Time and again the scrum-half, Dwayne Peel, was either caught in possession or could not manage to get the ball away for some other reason.

In other respects Peel seems a lucky lad to me. He is the first choice not only for Llanelli but for Wales as well, in the line of Haydn Tanner, Rex Willis, Gareth Edwards, Terry Holmes, Robert Jones and Rob Howley, to name but a few. And people ask why Wales are no longer the force they used to be!

But it would unfair to put all the blame on Peel personally, or on the back row as an entity. The whole Llanelli pack looked creaky. It was significant that they were stiffened when the experienced but aged tight-head prop, John Davies, came on towards the end of the match. He replaced Martyn Madden.

This season Madden has been shifted to the right hand of the front row to accommodate the international Iestyn Thomas, previously of Ebbw Vale. This strikes me as the height of folly. It was Madden who should have been in the Welsh side last season, possibly before that.

Quite why he was not there, and is not there now on any regular basis, is something that continues to elude me. It may be that there is still a prejudice against props who dash about the field and even score tries, as Madden regularly does. The selectors think that on that account they cannot be pushing their weight in the scrum.

It is, of course, nonsense – all the more pernicious in the modern game. The loose-head position is better suited to the mobile prop because he can, entirely legitimately, detach himself from the scrum more easily than the tight-head. In effect, he can act as an additional flanker. Jenkins should restore Madden to loose-head straightaway.

The most impressive sides I have seen so far are Toulouse and Leicester with Leinster third, and I expect one of them to win the Cup. My heart may still be with Llanelli, but my money will stay in my pocket.