Nine years on and even after a long absence due to injury, Faletau remains one of his sport’s most famous faces despite his curls now being far shorter than in the past. That said, as the brother-in-law to Real Madrid and Wales football superstar Gareth Bale, the 29-year-old No 8 knows he is nowhere near the most well-known member of his family. It suits Faletau down to the ground.
Quiet and shy off the field, the Bath and former Dragons forward nonetheless remains fiercely determined to succeed and his return to the Wales fold for the 2020 Guinness Six Nations has been a huge boost for head coach Wayne Pivac. Faletau will again be a key man against France today.
“I only see Gareth at family gatherings and things like that – we don’t really stay in touch, but he obviously has a totally different lifestyle to me,” Faletau said. “I’ve not really seen it first hand, but I know it’s a nightmare for Gareth to try and get around because he’ll just get mobbed.
“Apart from the odd person, I don’t really have that problem! Football is on a different level. In 2016 a few of us Wales boys went down to France for the Euros when Gareth was playing. It was amazing.
“We went to Lille and Lyon that year and I’d like to sneak out for the Euros again this summer if I can, but I’m not sure how it’s going to work with the tournament in different locations.
“We’ll see what happens. Our two families stay in touch through our partners. My wife Charlotte has gone over to see her sister in Spain at the moment so I’m sure she’ll let me know what’s going on!”
Bale has three children with his wife Emma Rhys-Jones, the sister of Faletau’s spouse Charlotte. They make for quite the Welsh sporting family. Bale’s footballing successes have been remarkable, but Faletau is a star in his own right as a Six Nations Grand Slam winner and two-time British & Irish Lion.
Clavicle and arm injuries might have stemmed his international career in the last two years, but this afternoon’s game will be Faletau’s 75th Wales cap. He is relishing every chance he gets right now.
“It’s definitely the case I’m appreciating my rugby more now,” said Faletau, who has children Israel, three, and Ezekiel, one, with Charlotte. “To have had a crack at it again is great. I’m trying to make the most of every opportunity I get because right now I just want to play well and enjoy the moment.
“The kids keep me occupied. They don’t really understand what you’re going through when you’re injured, but that also means they don’t really let you get down in your thoughts over not being able to play rugby. They occupy your life and take up the time when I could be moping. I feel like it’s my job as a parent to make them happy and if they’re happy, there is no better feeling.
“I’ve been taking Israel to a lot of Bath’s games over the last year or so and he loves it. That has made me appreciate playing for Wales even more. He made the trip out to Ireland to watch too. “Charlotte had to be the one to look after him, but he enjoyed it. He’s pretty active and enjoys all sports. When I took him to the first couple of Bath games he said ‘Dad, do you actually play?’ I told him I would play soon enough, but it’s good now he knows I can actually run about!
“I’m happy he will remember me playing. For him it’s about enjoying all sports at his age. He likes anything – tennis, snooker, whatever is going. The Welsh Open has been on in the snooker recently and he’s loved that. He’s very active. He plays football and knows Gareth plays as well.”
Israel might only be young, but as he watched his father take on Ireland earlier this month he would have seen Faletau put in a fine display even though his Wales team were beaten 24-14 in Dublin.
The result followed a 42-0 win against Italy in round one. Faletau has started both of those games and the truth is it is great to see him back on the field. Hopefully his share of bad luck is behind him.
Injuries are part and parcel of rugby today, but Faletau has been unfortunate. His clavicle problem suffered in training with Wales saw him miss last year’s Rugby World Cup in Japan. Prior to that, he had suffered two broken arms. This year’s Italy game was his first Test since March 17, 2018 against France. Looking ahead to renewing his rivalry with Les Bleus, Faletau said: “We were disappointed with the result in Ireland, but now we need to get back to our best and sort a few things out.
“We’ve had two weeks to do that. We didn’t help ourselves with all those errors in Dublin. We felt if we’d been able to hold on to the ball for a lot longer, then we could have put Ireland under pressure and it could have tipped the outcome of the game on the day. We’re looking to fix those things now.
“Against Italy it was just great to be back out there at the stadium. It was a bit of a shock to the system, but I actually enjoyed the Ireland game a lot more even though we didn’t get the result.
“I’ve loved being back out there with the boys in the red shirt, but like always there are areas to improve and get better. I want to make those changes personally.
“France have looked awesome so far. I watched a bit of their game against England and they looked very good then. I didn’t catch much of the Italy match, but they’re in a good position and I’m sure they’ll be looking to keep their momentum going. Watching France against England, you could see how well their defence went and the impact Shaun Edwards has been having.
“He’ll be happy, but I definitely think the title is still on for us. The France game will have a big indication over whether we are still in the running come the end of the Championship.
“We have to win our games to keep our hopes alive, but also take each game as it comes. That’s what you have to do after a loss which has hit your chances of winning the tournament.”
Faletau used his injury-enforced spell away from rugby to marry Charlotte in a quiet Newport ceremony. Bale did not attend. Now his focus remains entirely on rugby and the Six Nations.
“My form is OK. I’m getting there at the moment, but I can still play better,” Faletau said. “Running out in front of a home Welsh crowd is amazing and there is no place like Principality Stadium.
“When you’re away for a long period of time I guess you look forward to it more. There is definitely no reason for us to panic. You are always going to make some errors, but the one time we got through what we wanted to do against Ireland, we scored a nice try with Tomos Williams.
“We’ll take confidence from that and hopefully we can put a good performance in against France.”
