Welsh regions eye new tournament with the English

[TRF_Cymro]

Can't speak for Kiwi central contracts, but Irish central contracts are pretty much all two years or longer - standard job security in other words.

Ye of course. But Scrum V were speculating. I am pretty sure they will look to secure players on these contracts for as long as possible.

 

[TrueSlawter]

If I were a top Welsh player, I would be considering getting out of Wales the moment that was announced. Why would I accept the insecurity of a contract that could disappear at any moment when I could easily get a 2 or 3 year contract elsewhere?

Make it like NZ, want to play for the nation, play in Wales..

However as Cymro said the rolling deal was just speculation but a 2-3 year deal (or longer) could also work within that system.

 

[Peat]

Make it like NZ, want to play for the nation, play in Wales..

However as Cymro said the rolling deal was just speculation but a 2-3 year deal (or longer) could also work within that system.

There is already a clear and present bias towards playing in Wales vs not playing in Wales. It's not keeping boys home. Maybe it would if it was a complete non-go policy, but I don't see it working too well if the choice is play for your country vs provide for your family properly.

Hope that one year rolling contracts are just speculation, as there is very obvious evidence as for why they would not work.

 

[pete82]

Can't see what the RFU or English domestic rugby would gain from the Welsh regions entering the Aviva Premiership, For a start they already have Sky and other big sponsors on Board, Strength in depth throughout the English club Pyramid, Championship games are also quite an attraction with sky sports coverage too, If anything I would have thought that involving the Irish provinces would be far more attractive.

At the moment the Regional game in Wales is a farce, they are nothing more than four super clubs that were set up for the benefit of a few rather than a majority, It is not the fault of Cardiff, Llanelli and Newport, the fault lies at the feet of the WRU for not being strong enough to say no to stand alone regions in the first place.

In my opinion a good start would be three regions, the first playing out of North Wales (Parc Eirias and Wrexham), the second out of West Wales (Parc y Scarlets, the Liberty Stadium and the Gnoll) and the third playing out of South East Wales (Arms Park, Brewery Field, Sardis Road and Rodney Parade), the Stadiums highlighted in each region are no more than 30 minutes apart so should not really prove a problem for supporters to travel with the exception of North Wales (50 minutes between Colwyn bay and Wrexham).

Secondly we could have say 20/25 Internationals centrally contracted, players could then be placed at each region to suit the national team, making the regions more competitive with each other and freeing up money to sign a marquee or project player (Which would be capped to say 2 or 3 players per region).

Finally the regions should have no bearing in name or identity of any single welsh club side, a template of the super rugby franchises could be used, maybe incorporating a sponsors name in the ***le of the team or stadia.

I'm sure that these measures, although just a start not a solution would be far more beneficial to both the fans and players themselves, enabling us to be more competitive in European fixtures and attract bigger crowds, for example, the Ospreys and Scarlets play in front of
average crowds of 6/7,000 having just one side in the west Wales region could in theory produce average crowds of at least 10,000 surely? It is food for thought.

 

[j'nuh]

Here's a thought. The WRU often offer rewards for when Welsh players do well in competitions. For example, in 2009-2010 each player would gain £28000 and £65000 for AI and 6N sweeps respectively: here. But I don't see why there should be a monetary incentive to do well - the desire to win should be strong enough. Instead, I'd like to see reward money much reduced, and it just given to players. Something like a £65000 reward for a grand slam reduced to £20000 with the £45000 just given out for appearances - £9000+ per appearance. There are more than 10 Welsh games a season, so this would add up to £90000+ per year, which would offset a lot of the money that French teams would offer. Then the WRU only has to operate a "play in Wales to play for Wales" policy.

If you work it all out - say £10000 for a full-appearance, £7000 for a part-appearance, £3000 for being in the Welsh squad but not playing. That's £242,000 per game for a 35-man squad. Saying there's 12 games a season (5 6N games, 3 summers, 4 AIs), that's a £2.9m bill a year for the WRU. A lot of money, but certainly manageable for the WRU. But they could also operate a policy where appearance money is limited to the first 10 games of each year and I think that would work as well. Players like Mike Phillips can expect to get around £100K from Welsh appearances then, plus more if the Welsh team achieve things. I think that this would offset the French-pull.

Just a question of whether the matter is worth £2.5-3m to the WRU.

 

[dullonien]

Here's a thought. The WRU often offer rewards for when Welsh players do well in competitions. For example, in 2009-2010 each player would gain £28000 and £65000 for AI and 6N sweeps respectively: here. But I don't see why there should be a monetary incentive to do well - the desire to win should be strong enough. Instead, I'd like to see reward money much reduced, and it just given to players. Something like a £65000 reward for a grand slam reduced to £20000 with the £45000 just given out for appearances - £9000+ per appearance. There are more than 10 Welsh games a season, so this would add up to £90000+ per year, which would offset a lot of the money that French teams would offer. Then the WRU only has to operate a "play in Wales to play for Wales" policy.

If you work it all out - say £10000 for a full-appearance, £7000 for a part-appearance, £3000 for being in the Welsh squad but not playing. That's £242,000 per game for a 35-man squad. Saying there's 12 games a season (5 6N games, 3 summers, 4 AIs), that's a £2.9m bill a year for the WRU. A lot of money, but certainly manageable for the WRU. But they could also operate a policy where appearance money is limited to the first 10 games of each year and I think that would work as well. Players like Mike Phillips can expect to get around £100K from Welsh appearances then, plus more if the Welsh team achieve things. I think that this would offset the French-pull.

Just a question of whether the matter is worth £2.5-3m to the WRU.

Interesting thought. You might not have to have a 'play in Wales to play for Wales' policy actually, it could just be a 'play in Wales to receive bonuses' policy. This way, we still have access to all our best players, but the financial incentive to stay in Wales for the top players is there.