The Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) has recognised the “damage and anger” brought on by their proposal to scale back the variety of skilled males’s sides in Wales from 4 to 2, however insisted sustaining the established order isn’t the “proper factor” to do.
Welsh rugby’s governing physique has produced a radical plan to show across the the sport at each membership and worldwide stage, outlining its ambitions in a 90-page session doc entitled “The Way forward for Elite Rugby in Wales.”
There can be a six-week session interval earlier than the WRU makes a ultimate determination on the plans, and WRU chief govt Abi Tierney has urged folks to “enhance on the proposals” and supply “one thing match for goal for Welsh rugby”.
The WRU’s proposal to halve its variety of 4 males’s skilled sides — Cardiff, Dragons, Ospreys and Scarlets — to 2 would be the largest speaking level in a doc which outlined 4 potential fashions for the sport in Wales.
It stays unclear whether or not the 2 future sides being proposed can be new entities or current groups, however the two organisations will every have a males’s and girls’s group.
“I understand how emotional rugby is in Wales and folks can be hurting right this moment, after they assume what it might imply doubtlessly for them and their their group.
“I recognise the damage and anger individuals are going to be feeling. Change is difficult and that is onerous for followers.
“However followers’ numbers drop has additionally not been an ideal expertise for anyone, and we wish to create an expertise they are often pleased with.
“What we have been doing and conserving doing for followers was not the precise factor. I might encourage everyone to think about how thrilling it might be and take that step into the longer term.”
The WRU proposal comes amid Ospreys’ plans to maneuver right into a redeveloped stadium at St Helen’s in Swansea for the 2026-27 season and the Scarlets having not too long ago unveiled new traders.
Dragons mentioned this week elite skilled rugby should proceed in Gwent, whereas Cardiff are at present owned by the WRU having gone into administration in April.
It’s doable the WRU will face authorized motion from areas that might primarily be put out of enterprise, with WRU chairman Richard Collier-Keywood saying “two or three areas of potential authorized problem” exist.
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The WRU has additionally proposed the creation of a nationwide campus at a website but to be determined, which might be the house of the lads’s and girls’s skilled groups, in addition to Wales’ nationwide sides and the union’s academy.
Gamers have been briefed on the WRU’s plan on Tuesday and Dave Reddin, the brand new director of rugby and elite efficiency, is assured recommendations of doable participant strike motion is not going to materialise.
Reddin mentioned: “The nationwide campus can be a radical departure and doing one thing totally different, a defensive moat for Welsh rugby and making a aggressive benefit.
“We have got to look exterior the field if we wish to attempt to do issues in a different way.
“Be courageous sufficient to to guide generally and do issues that nobody else is doing. Do issues issues that folks assume are a bit nutty, too totally different or too uncomfortable.”
