The immediate problem on funding is that presumably the current service agreement wouldn't allow different funding for different regions. So there would need to be a new agreement. But who would sign an agreement that left their region funded less than another? (Which is why the WRU needs to work towards central ownership of the regions). I hope the new, more professional leadership at the WRU can find a way forward but . . . there is no sign of it yet.Sandydragon wrote: ↑Sun Mar 10, 2024 9:37 pmWe need to get something successful going or else its going to be a long decade. Drop the 25 cap rule and pick the best team available, at least that gets Team Wales winning and some money for the regions. Focus then on 1 region, then a second. Get a strong team out that is competitive. Id prefer that we just went east and west but that wont happen so if we have the current set up, throw resource at the Ospreys who have the bets history of success and take it from there.Son of Mathonwy wrote: ↑Sun Mar 10, 2024 6:03 pmYep, it is a downer, not much positive to see. The WRU have made it so much worse through decades of mismanagement and lack of planning. Agreed, we should have at least 1 good region (which our players could aspire to) but we don't even have that now. That loses us players. If we had a team as good as Exeter (let alone Leinster) players like Feyi-Waboso would be less likely to leave (Ireland doesn't lose any good players).UKHamlet wrote: ↑Sun Mar 10, 2024 5:42 pm I'm utterly depressed by all this. Not the match in particular but the fact that WRU let it come to this. Our players should be playing week in week out in winning teams that are properly funded and a blend of youth and experience. They need to know how to play at the top level: how to close out games after building a lead. It all starts with funding and the WRU aren't doing their bit. We have roughly the same income as the IRFU but too much of that income seems to disappear into the Westgate Street black hole.
I don't think Gatland has done a great job here but with the players missing (for whatever reason) we really didn't have much hope. Now Italy . . . I can't help discounting them because of their historical mediocrity but on this seasons form they may well beat us. And being 4 points up on us, they don't even need to do that. Bottom of the table beckons, which means even less money for Welsh rugby and less reason for players to choose Wales.
And stop funding a bloody hotel.
As for the 25 cap rule, I know WOL loves to rage against it, but which players would it actually make a difference for? Only Hawkins for sure. We have a bigger problem with players deliberately ending their Wales careers in order to get a better contract abroad. I know there's a horrible feeling of waste over Carre and worst case (he becomes the supreme professional at Sarries and then England snap him up) would be bad, but as things stand Gatland is completely uninterested in selecting him and Carre seems similarly uninterested in getting fit to the required standard.
It might have been a factor for Feyi-Waboso but only a mind reader would really know the truth of that - the speed with which he chose England suggests to me that he preferred to wear white. (As an aside I do think the cap rule should make exceptions for long-term degrees which are difficult to transfer).
The 25 cap rule does seem to be useful in keeping players such as Grady in Wales (which makes hiring easier and cheaper for the regions). I think Hawkins is the exception.
