Welsh rugby is in a right old mess but it can be saved with a little sanity ...Middle East

Welsh rugby people have always loved a bit of bickering: village versus village, town against town and, in the professional era, seemingly everyone who doesn’t work for the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) against the Welsh Rugby Union.

If the game is going to be preserved as a major pillar of life in Wales, the arguing has to stop, right now. The WRU is about to choose a director of rugby and a new head coach for the men’s national team, and an agreement on funding the regions is overdue.

Whatever these decisions are, they must be made from a united front.

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My predicted Lions XV to face Australia after the Six Nations

The regions – now generally described as the “pro clubs” – and the WRU together should tot up the pot of money available in the Welsh game and go on a public roadshow to show a 10-year plan for professional rugby.

Everyone needs to understand and agree a vision, from the wondrous coaches leaning into the wind and rain of a Welsh winter to teach kids how to catch and pass to the highly-paid executive in his or her plush office at the Principality Stadium.

Wales were beaten 68-14 by England in Cardiff on Saturday and it was as insipidly awful a performance as the 96-13 hammering at the hands of the Springboks I witnessed in South Africa in 1998. On that occasion, a tabloid newspaper illustrated my match report with a gravestone engraved with “RIP Welsh rugby”.

The corpse had life in it, thankfully, with the dark days of the 1980s and 90s turned into Six Nations Grand Slam party times in the 2000s.

Great players such as Alun Wyn Jones and Sam Warburton emerged through the “pathways” – a euphemism for the ecosystem of families, schools, academies and love and understanding of the game to bring through the talent.

Make no mistake – all the wrangling and wailing around who spends what and where in Welsh rugby must have the most important issue as its top line, which is the nurturing of players, now and for the future.

There isn’t the room or the need here to go through all the alleged mistakes made in those pathways in recent years.

The introduction of regions in 2003 was never universally loved, but now if the four pro clubs are going to be trimmed to three, as ex-Wales captain Warburton recommended over the weekend, they need to agree it and say it.

If the plan is to stop talented Welsh youngsters learning their trade at better-funded English schools and academies and better-paying English and French clubs, show a plan to make it happen – currently, eight of the Wales 23 play outside of the country.

"Something has to change"

Sam Warburton has had his say on what needs to happen to bring good times back to Wales.#SixNations #BBCRugby #RugbySpecial pic.twitter.com/TMTvDtdCSK

— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) March 16, 2025

If there isn’t the money to do that, then let the best players hone their craft at someone else’s expense, and either give up on the Wales team as a world player, or use the continuing appeal of the red jersey to keep those players involved, and plan training and matches around them.

It is undeniably tough when matters such as international and cross-border competitions are mostly out of Welsh hands, but they have to make projections.

And what about all the little clubs and districts who underpin the WRU and believe they deserve to share the decision-making platform with the Union and the pro clubs?

Either find a person to represent them on that stage, with a cogent argument and ultimately agreement, or let go of their grip and allow a two-tier system of professional and amateur to take over, as they are currently pondering in England.

If this means disbanding the WRU as it is currently constituted, then so be it.

The one thing all these people – and never forget they are people, ultimately, behind the brand names and institutions – must stop doing is tearing each other apart.

Because, as my Welsh relatives might say, I’ve had a gutsful of these arguments since rugby went open in 1995.

Wales team vs England

Replacements

The Gwent-based Dragons’ co-owner David Buttress was at it again on BBC radio on Monday morning, saying the WRU had been “a slow-moving car crash over the last few years” – and while I’m sure that was a heartfelt and maybe justified statement, it has outlived its usefulness.

The clash between the statutory role of a governing body and the private investors who see altruistic and personal value in putting cash into the game needs to be properly resolved.

Warburton would filter the players not needed by the three pro clubs into the next competition down, Super Rugby Cymru, embracing the whole country, and this is where local rivalry could subsist.

The three pro clubs meanwhile would hothouse the best talent, with the hope of being competitive again in the United Rugby Championship and Europe.

The long-serving Welsh rugby journalist Simon Thomas recommends recruiting 25 to 30 of the “90-plus Welsh qualified pros playing outside Wales”.

Obviously, that needs paying for, and the environment for them to come to needs improving. Buttress says even facilities like the national training centre at The Vale are “tired”.

A WRU internal appointment of Huw Bevan is being tipped as director of rugby – but whoever it is needs the magic formula of empathy for the Welsh way and a grasp of global developments. The enthusiasm and ability is still there.

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Cardiff Arms Park was rocking on Friday night, with 8,500 spectators revelling in a well-coached Wales Under-20 team (including Dragons tyro Jack Woods) taking down England’s world champions.

Give the public the fixtures they want to see – derby matches and the occasional glamour tie against Irish, Scottish, French and above all English opposition – and the crowds will come and spend.

The job of Wales’ head coach is a cracking one for someone believing the only way is up from a world ranking of 12th, and that a new golden generation of players can be created who, excitingly, would be standard-bearers with a nation behind them and all their teams.

The outgoing interim head coach Matt Sherratt recommended after the England shellacking: “Power is not something you can coach, but you can coach the players to be technically better, play faster, get more one vs ones, get more transitional moments. It’s not about power for me, you’ve got to find a way with what you’ve got.”

An hour earlier, fans had streamed through the exits well ahead of England’s embarrassingly easy 10th and final try.

Then at the final whistle the public-address announcer was imploring them to buy tickets for the autumn internationals.

The evidence of England supporters snapping up tickets returned from Welsh clubs is people are shying away from buying those seats.

Wales will probably have a low representation on the next Lions tour, and the reputation of Welsh coaches has taken a hit – unthinkable a couple of generations ago, when they were teaching the world.

Welsh rugby is weeping, even as it faces the biggest few months since the seismic events of 1995 and 2003.

They need to wipe away the tears, appreciate they have a common bond, and go forward together – or risk losing the public and the game for good.

Hence then, the article about welsh rugby is in a right old mess but it can be saved with a little sanity was published today ( Tuesday 18/03/2025 - 09:02 AM ) and is available on inews ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.

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