‘Nobody wants to lose a Welsh region’
WELSH Rugby Union performance director Nigel Walker has said “nobody” wants to cut four regions into three, not even the WRU.
The Union spent £25,000 commissioning a report by Oakwell Sports Advisory, known as the Umbers report, with one recommendation suggesting losing a team is the way to make professional rugby in Wales financially viable and successful.
A series of meetings has been ongoing behind the scenes for a number of weeks, with Welsh rugby in a state of crisis. The current four pro sides, Cardiff, Ospreys, Scarlets and Dragons, have all endured largely miserable seasons – with the men’s national side’s disastrous Six Nations, which saw a first-ever home defeat against Italy, appearing to be a tipping point for the WRU to act.
Asked whether he thought Welsh rugby was in a state of crisis, Walker said on BBC Scrum V: “That’s one way of putting it. I wouldn’t characterise it in that way. Yes, we have some challenges to overcome, but they are not peculiar to Welsh rugby. France have had to go through a difficult period, England are going through a difficult period.
“There needs to be a correction. We need to work together. The PRB [Professional Rugby Board], which is charged with setting the strategy, charting the direction of travel for the professional game in Wales, is talking about those things.
“The one option which has been mentioned is four [regions] to three, nobody in Welsh rugby wants to go from four to three. The regions don’t want it, the WRU don’t want it.
“It was an independent report commissioned by the PRB. Some might say it’s semantics, but it’s not a WRU report. It came up with a whole raft of options, of which one has been selected. It’s 85 pages long! It was commissioned early in the new year, it was delivered in February. The regions and WRU have been talking about it for quite a few months.
“It’s unfortunate it’s been leaked, but now it’s in the public domain, people know we are considering these things carefully. The important thing is that the PRB statement, after the recent meeting, said sustainability and success. That’s what everybody is concentrating on. We have to have agreement in weeks rather than months.
“The discussion we are having is, what does success look like for regional rugby? We need our regions to be successful and the WRU recognises we need our regions to be successful.”