No domestic bliss for ongoing Welsh rugby soap opera

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2 days ago

Richard Collier-Keywood, Abi Tierney, Warren Gatland and Matt Sherratt have been pivotal figures in Welsh rugby during the 2024-25 season [BBC Sport]
So there we have it. Scarlets' defeat by Leinster in the United Rugby Championship (URC) quarter-finals represented the end of the domestic season in Wales and another tumultuous campaign on and off the field.
Resignations, administration, wooden spoons, caretaker coaches, contract controversies and more Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) disputes with the regions.
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Just the latest edition in the chaotic world of the soap opera that is Welsh rugby.
When the four professional sides kicked off the campaign last September we wondered how much lower Welsh rugby could sink on the international and domestic stage.
While there has been a slight improvement from the regions, the dire Dragons apart, the latest campaign has been a disaster on the international stage and in the boardroom with influential figures like Warren Gatland and Nigel Walker departing.
The two national sides won only two out of 17 internationals while the men's side are without a permanent head coach before a two-Test tour of Japan in July.
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There has been more off-field controversy involving the WRU who were forced to apologise to Wales women over player contracts.
With Cardiff going into administration and being taken over by the WRU, the governing body find itself in dispute with Ospreys and Scarlets with question marks over whether a region will be cut. Never a dull day in Welsh rugby.
National woes
Wales women's and men's side lost 15 out of the 16 games in the 2024-25 season [Huw Evans Picture Agency]
Played 10, lost 10. That was the dismal record of Wales' two national sides in the 2025 Six Nations in the space of 86 difficult days.
From the 43-0 Friday night Paris mauling dished out to Wales' men's side in January to the 44-12 hammering inflicted by Italy's women in late April, it proved a miserable three months as both sides finished rock bottom.
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Wales men have lost all eight matches this season to take the international record losing sequence to 17 following another clean sweep of Six Nations defeats.
So there was no surprise when there was a record low of two players, captain Jac Morgan and scrum-half Tomos Williams, named in the British and Irish Lions touring party to Australia.
Gatland departed in February, Cardiff coach Matt Sherratt taking charge for the rest of the Six Nations which finished with the record 68-14 home loss to England in March.
Sherratt remains in charge for Japan, with new performance director Dave Reddin - who might wonder what he has let himself in for - leading the process for Gatland's permanent successor.
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Wales women have also gained a new coach after Ioan Cunningham paid the price for the contracts dispute at the back-end of 2024.
Ironically, Cunningham was the only Wales national coach to gain victories in the regular season with a 19-10 win against Japan in the WXV2 tournament in South Africa and a warm-up win for the tournament against Australia.
Former Gloucester-Hartpury boss Sean Lynn came in just a week before the Six Nations started after guiding his club to a third successive league title.
Lynn was quickly exposed to the harsh realities as his side became the first Wales women's team to lose all five matches in a Six Nations tournament. He will expect more during the World Cup in England later this year.
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There is some hope. Wales captain Morgan has been a stoic figure in adversity, while Scarlets and Wales full-back Blair Murray has been the find of the season.
Wales Under-20s provided arguably the performance and occasion of the campaign.
Richard Whiffin's side defeated defending world champions England in the final Six Nations game at a raucous Arms Park to deny the visitors another Grand Slam. Wales will travel to Italy this summer for the Junior World Championship.
Domestic duties
Cardiff won the 2024-25 United Rugby Championship Welsh shield for the most impressive results in games played between Welsh teams [Huw Evans Picture Agency]
In terms of results, the Welsh sides matched the previous campaign with one team reaching the Challenge Cup quarter-finals and the URC play-off last eight.
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In 2023-24, it was Ospreys who achieved both those feats under the guidance of Toby Booth.
This season - with Booth departing just before Christmas and replaced by Mark Jones - Ospreys managed the European knockout stages again but it was Scarlets who reached the league play-offs with a storming finish to the regular campaign before a last-eight defeat at Leinster.
On paper there was a slight improvement in results, despite the salary cap reducing to £4.5m. In the 2024-25 URC season, Welsh teams won 25 games compared to 22 in the previous campaign.
Scarlets (nine) and Cardiff (eight) were the most improved with their win totals improving by four victories each, while Ospreys had three fewer wins than in 2023-24.
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Dragons were again the major disappointment as they equalled the record for the worst URC league season with just nine points, finishing bottom in a nightmare campaign which also saw Filo Tiatia replace Dai Flanagan as head coach.
The Welsh side lost 17 successive league games after defeating Ospreys on the opening weekend in September 2024 for a sole success.
The dip in interest has also seen Welsh rugby's Judgement Day shelved for next season after a crowd of only 28,000 attended this season's event in April, compared to the 50,000 that turned up for the Bath v Bristol English Premiership match staged a month later at the same Principality Stadium venue.
More of the WRU same
Welsh rugby has made as many negative off-the-field headlines this season as they have on it. Those hoping fresh faces at the top would signify no more controversies will be disappointed.
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The change in personnel with chair Richard Collier-Keywood and chief executive Abi Tierney at the helm has so far not resulted in an alteration in headlines or produced an improvement in the dreadful state of the Welsh game.
Old behaviours reared its head as Wales women's players were threatened with withdrawal from the WXV2 international competition and, subsequently, this summer's World Cup as contract talks broke down.
They were issued with a "final offer" ultimatum on 2 August, saying if they did not sign within a three-hour deadline, planned matches against New Zealand, Scotland and Australia would not go ahead and the contracts would be withdrawn.
The WRU later apologised for their behaviour but refuted allegations of sexism. Collier-Keywood said the row represented a "failure" of governance and leadership by the union and the "crisis" could have been avoided.
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Head coach Cunningham and executive director of rugby Walker both departed to be effectively replaced by Lynn and Reddin.
Cardiff chaos
The WRU launched its "One Wales" strategy in the summer of 2024, with the new Professional Rugby Agreement (PRA) promised to follow soon after to form an integral part of the long-term strategy.
That has not transpired. The WRU had to cope with Cardiff going into administration in April before the governing body bailed them out.
That event has led to the dispute between the WRU and Ospreys and Scarlets over the new PRA.
Ospreys and Scarlets did not sign up to Welsh rugby's new agreement by the deadline of 8 May, despite the document being signed by Dragons and Cardiff.
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Ospreys and Scarlets say they asked the WRU for assurances the takeover "will not disproportionally benefit Cardiff and disadvantage the independent clubs" but claim they were not given guarantees.
After the deadline was missed, the WRU announced it will move away from a model of four evenly funded professional sides and intend to implement a new two-tier funding system.
It is a decision which Ospreys and Scarlets say has "created more destabilising and debilitating uncertainty in our game".
The WRU has now served a two-year notice on the current agreement that underpins the Welsh professional game. That current PRA runs out in 2027 although it was due to be superseded by the new five-year deal.
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Will four become three?
Tierney had continually talked about four equal regions being the way forward but the goalposts have moved with the governing body also having to refinance its debt with the bank.
It has been mooted the cash-strapped WRU intends to cut a team from its professional tier with the governing body neither confirming or denying this prospect.
They hope to have a long-term decision made by September but currently Ospreys and Scarlets, who are Wales' Champions Cup representatives next season, will be on inferior terms than their east Wales rivals.
These events have caused another rift in Welsh rugby that has seen Ospreys and Scarlets' local politicians get involved and could ultimately end up with lawyers.
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The latest saga has caused more uncertainty among players and supporters about what the future holds, with little transparency across the game in Wales and teams fighting for survival.
There are no winners with Welsh rugby's reputation again publicly dragged through the dirt.
Not many dull days in Welsh rugby then with more upheaval to come, which some argue is essential for an upturn in the flagging fortunes.
We wait to see what chaos the 2025-26 circus will bring.