What does the future hold for Wales’ A stars as English and Scots get ready to make return?

WITH England and Scotland reintroducing their A sides, thoughts have once again turned to Wales’ own mysterious A team.

It was way back in June 2016 it was announced the Welsh second string was being resurrected after a 14-year absence.

But almost five years on, it is yet to play a single match, for a variety of reasons.

So what are the chances of it finally emerging from hibernation given the trend elsewhere?

Rugby correspondent SIMON THOMAS investigates... What’s the background to this story?

WELL, through the ‘80s, ‘90s and early noughties, the Welsh second-string side was pretty firmly established.

It was initially known as Wales B and then Wales A.

During the 1990s, in particular, it served as a valuable stepping stone to the senior side.

There was an annual A-team tournament running in parallel to the Five Nations and then, from 2000, the Six Nations, with matches against the other countries’ second strings.

Games were played on the eve of the full Championship fixtures and were an established part of the rugby calendar.

Wales A also faced touring teams such as New Zealand, South Africa, Argentina, Tonga and Canada, with a certain Jonah Lomu lining up for the Kiwis against them at Pontypridd’s Sardis Road in November 1997.

Coaches like Mike Ruddock and Lynn Howells had spells at the helm, as a number of future stars were handed their first taste of international rugby.

When was the last Wales A game? THAT was way back in April 2002, when a second-string XV coached by Ruddock beat Scotland A 30-23 at Wrexham’s Racecourse Ground.

It was a side which featured a host of familiar names, including the likes of Gareth Thomas, Gethin Jenkins, Tom Shanklin, Gareth Llewellyn and Michael Owen.

There were other men on board who went on to win a host of full caps, like Grand Slam duo Robert Sidoli and Mefin Davies.

But the team also included a couple of players who were to remain uncapped, in No.8 Nathan BonnerEvans and future Ospreys chief executive Andrew Millward, as well as men who had very limited Test time in Gareth Wyatt, Lee Jarvis and Adrian Durston.

Why was the Wales A team scrapped?

TO save money essentially.

Back in 2003, Welsh rugby was in a desperate financial position because of the debt on the Millennium Stadium.

So, as part of a major cost-cutting exercise introduced by new WRU chief executive David Moffett, the A team was disbanded.

It had cost more than £250,000 to run the side over the previous two years and the decision was made it had to go, with expensive trips to Italy, Scotland and France coming up during the 2003 Six Nations.

So how come it was reintroduced in 2016?

There were a couple of factors at play here.

The feeling was there wasn’t the required strength in depth outside the national squad and the idea was to provide fringe players with a stepping stone to the Test arena.

Wales A would serve as a level above regional or U20s rugby and enable players to experience the international environment.

It was also a way of addressing the “capture side” issue.

For a number of years up until 2016, the U20s had been Wales’ capture team, the one designated as the second string which binds a player to Wales in international terms.

With the formal reintroduction of the A team, that changed.

The second string now took on that role, with the WRU lodging its status officially with World Rugby.

That resolved the problem of some