‘Data backs 60-cap rule’
WELSH rugby has been told it must continue to bring its best players back from the Gallagher Premiership if Wayne Pivac’s side is to achieve continued success at Test level.
This week Jamie Roberts became the latest high-profile figure to criticise the WRU’s 60 cap rule. The ex-Wales and British & Irish Lions midfielder accused the WRU of blackmailing players with fewer than 60 caps to remain at one of the four Welsh regions. But former Australian prop Ben Darwin, who co-owns one of the biggest data analytic companies in the world, insists all the numbers point to the fact that dropping the 60-cap law would lead to disastrous Welsh results.
“In the long-term relaxing Wales’ selection policy would be disastrous,” said Darwin, who co-owns GainLine Analytics.
“A lot of Tests are being played outside the window so it’s far better if you have all your players at home.
“Picking players playing outside of Wales steals from tomorrow to win today.
“What you want when a player walks on to the field for your club is for him to have played with his teammates before. That’s part of why Munster were so successful historically. If you select players playing all around the globe, your chances of success in Tests are significantly less.
“What you want is to build cohesion at the regions and you need the system to be drilled down. You want alignment of the regions underneath your Test side as much as you can. Secondly, you need to stabilise and retain the development of talent as much as you can within the regions which means you get an accelerated level of talent development.”
Darwin claims the evidence shows the fewer number of professional sides, the greater the chances of success at Test level.
“By reducing the number of clubs in Wales back in 2003, they’ve dramatically improved the performance of the Welsh team because they are now playing together as club mates much more often,” he said. “Your club system needs to be appropriately sized and the numbers show that generally, the smaller the better. Let’s say Wales went to three clubs: Cardiff, Ospreys and Scarlets.
The next layer down would be better looked after. The talent would flow down. If those two or three sides were winning Europe and sitting at the top of the URC, they would get better crowds and be more profitable.
“Welsh rugby would be better off for it. If you’ve got too many clubs, you tend to get money thrown around for no reason. If you look at Warren Gatland with Wales, he kept his squad very tight and they got better and better. The correlation between cohesion and experience is ridiculous.”