Dai Young says Welsh regions 'second' to national team

[TRF_Cymro]

Dai Young insists Wales' regions "come second" to the national team as Welsh rugby begins its Heineken Cup inquest.

Young's Blues, the Ospreys and Dragons all failed to reach the quarter-final of Europe's top club rugby tournament.

And if the Scarlets lose this weekend it will be the first time in four years that none of Wales' regions qualified for the Heineken Cup knockout stages.

"We have to be realistic," said Blues boss Young. "As we're not competing on a level playing field in Europe."

Wales' four regions ended months of political civil war and signed up to a new five-year "participation agreement" with the Welsh Rugby Union in 2009.

The peace deal, which ended potential high court action, agreed the WRU funded the regions in return for them helping shape how the Welsh internationals are managed by those four regions and that their stars are available for Wales squad sessions.

The agreement states each region is funded £6m per season by the WRU, but clubs must commit to developing Welsh players by restricting them to six non-Welsh qualified players in each regional squad.

The star-studded Ospreys' shock defeat at London Irish ended their Heineken Cup hopes and the Scarlets plucky defeat to English powerhouses Leicester Tigers all but ended their brave European run.

Nigel Davies' side do have a very slim chance of qualifying, but that is highly unlikely as they travel to French giants Perpignan on Sunday for their final Pool Five showdown.

The Blues' Heineken Cup quest ended before Christmas with back-to-back defeats against Northampton Saints while the Dragons have yet to win a game in this season's Heineken Cup.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/my_club/cardiff_blues/9366056.stm​

 

[Teh Mite]

About time the Welshists dropped the regions and went back to propperly having their own clubs (complete with fans in attendance). The experement has clearly failed as they never seem to make it past the group stage.

 

[Feicarsinn]

So it would be better for them to try to run a pro league that would go bankrupt within five years? Regionalism has had **** all time to grow in Wales. Supporters and success take time, just look at Italy in the Six Nations. The regional system is the only viable option for Welsh pro rugby imo.

 

[Teh Mite]

Ah ********, the regions only work in Ireland because they've always been there in one form or another. The only matches in Wales that get any support are the Welsh vs Welsh matches, otherwise the dwindling support for the regions is becoming one step short of pathetic - Cardiff giving away free tickets to a HEC game? Scarlets only filling to 2/3rds capacity for the Tigers match? Swansea always empty?

The big clubs of old managed to do well for themselves, now they seem to be treading water.

As for the Italians: Are they really doing that well with the "regional" teams? Really?

 

[munstermuffin]

Bullitt has a point as I know people in Pontypridd, Swansea and Bridgeend and they all swear against regions and even now are very bitter at the way the regions are formulated. Sure Neath and Swansea are hardly friendly rivals.

 

[Jockstap]

Silly argument, if the Welsh regions can't qualify for the knock out stages now with their best players in 4 teams what hope do they have if they dilute their teams down to 12 or whatever the hell it was before, they'd be absolutely annihilated.

It's with the young generation they have to rely on it seems, the guys who grew up with the regions and didn't experience the old club rivalries. It may take a while but they'll get there and the crowds are growing every year(kind of).

 

[dullonien]

No way could we return to clubs. As Feicarsinn said, we couldn't support a pro league of our own, and would have next to no chance of winning the HC or doing well as a national team if we weren't competing weekly against the big teams from Ireland, Scotland and now Italy. Old traditions die hard, but the newer generation of supporters will embrace the regions. Nothing can now be done to change the poor way in which the regions were sorted out, we've got what we've got and we've gotta get on with it.

A Welsh region will win the HC in the future, but it takes time. The Ospreys probably should have gone alot further in the competition in the past, but it didn't happen, so it's up to them to improve and come back stronger each and every year.

The regional academies are doing great work at producing youngsters, and the future looks very bright indeed with some genuine class youngsters coming through. Success will bring the fans in. Over to the regions really.

 

[cyRil]

The Ospreys have missed the boat for winning the Heineken Cup for the next 10 years.

 

[TRF_Cymro]

No way could we return to clubs. As Feicarsinn said, we couldn't support a pro league of our own, and would have next to no chance of winning the HC or doing well as a national team if we weren't competing weekly against the big teams from Ireland, Scotland and now Italy. Old traditions die hard, but the newer generation of supporters will embrace the regions. Nothing can now be done to change the poor way in which the regions were sorted out, we've got what we've got and we've gotta get on with it.

A Welsh region will win the HC in the future, but it takes time. The Ospreys probably should have gone alot further in the competition in the past, but it didn't happen, so it's up to them to improve and come back stronger each and every year.

The regional academies are doing great work at producing youngsters, and the future looks very bright indeed with some genuine class youngsters coming through. Success will bring the fans in. Over to the regions really.

Best chance that a Welsh region had was two years ago when the Blues got oh so close to the final!

WRU wanted the regions, willing to fund them quit e abit and then the clubs Chairman in the meeting said they wanted to become independent, silly as it was. WRU said fine we will pay basic fee's and threw the money at the WRU management, cut backs had to be made and the regions suffered from it. Celtic Warriors suffered and crumbled, under the failure of the WRU to fist fund the region properly and allowing a crook of a chairman to run the club.

Tickets handed out free where for the youngsters, as it was regional youth day ... hardly a crime and to me was a good idea to boost gate for a game and get potential youngsters on board.

 

[dullonien]

Best chance that a Welsh region had was two years ago when the Blues got oh so close to the final!

Yeh, sorry Cymro, you're quite right.