The five things in most need of urgent repair after Ulster's season to forget
Way more losses than wins, no knockout rugby in the URC, and with it being barred from next season's Champions Cup, losing at home to Zebre, struggling to beat Dragons, shipping five defeats in a row on two occasions… it's been horrible.
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Wales Online
10 hours ago
- Wales Online
Welsh rugby's possible new future as behind-scenes talks reach crucial stage
Welsh rugby's possible new future as behind-scenes talks reach crucial stage Talks are happening in Welsh rugby's corridors of power and it is clear change must and will happen, Steffan Thomas reports Change is coming to Welsh rugby this summer (Image: Huw Evans ) The future direction of Welsh rugby will be shaped this summer. That is no exaggeration. Wales effectively has two choices: it can limp on as it is and consign itself to a future of mediocrity at best or it can radically change the structure of the game in this country to give itself the best chance of sustained success. The penny has dropped with the Welsh Rugby Union and the Professional Rugby Board are working very hard behind the scenes to come up with a solution. The problems do not need another in-depth explanation. The men's national team have lost their previous 17 Test matches - a tier one record - and the four professional clubs - Cardiff, Dragons, Ospreys and Scarlets - have struggled to attain any sort of sustained success. Something has to change and things cannot go on as they are. Article continues below When the men's national side struggles it has a negative knock-on effect on the whole of Welsh rugby from a financial sense. Yes, there are some talented youngsters in the current Wales squad who will get better, while there are some potentially outstanding players emerging from the pathway, but the WRU needs to produce the optimum structure to give them the best chance of developing. Currently Wales' talent is spread too thinly across four professional clubs, while there are also a plethora of Welsh-qualified players in England. During the 2024/25 season, the Welsh clubs were operating from a salary cap of £4.5m, although that will rise next season at Cardiff and the Dragons who have signed the new Professional Rugby Agreement. The Gallagher Premiership salary cap this season was £6.4m which can rise to as high as £7.8m with home-grown player credits, international player credits and extra money for injury dispensation, while they are permitted one marquee player above the cap. In Ireland, Leinster have been significantly more well-resourced than the other three provinces - Connacht, Munster and Ulster - although this gap is closing next season. Sign up to Inside Welsh rugby on Substack to get exclusive news stories and insight from behind the scenes in Welsh rugby. It is very difficult to pin down Leinster's exact playing budgets but Irish sources have told WalesOnline it is in the region of €10.6m Crucially, in Ireland, professional sportsmen get a tax break when they retire which means the sides in Ireland don't have to pay their players as much. For example, a professional player in Wales might be on £120,000 at the Scarlets but get offered £180,000 to sign for Exeter Chiefs. In Ireland a player might be on £120,000 at Munster but get offered £180,000 to sign for an English club but if he stays in Ireland he will be able to claim money back upon retirement. The Irish Government also puts huge investment into professional sport. For example, Connacht received a €10 million grant through the Large-Scale Sports Infrastructure Fund to go towards the development of a new stadium in Galway. These are issues outside of the WRU's control but if it wants professional clubs who are competing for silverware every season they are likely to need playing budgets in the region of £9m. The reality is it cannot do this with four clubs any longer and that is why it is looking at the prospect of reducing to three, if not two, professional sides. For the national side to get back to winning Six Nations Grand Slams it needs its professional clubs competing every year in the latter stages of the Champions Cup and United Rugby Championship, if not winning it. This requires a greater squad spend but also creating an elitist high-performance system built on extremely high standards. For example, Leinster have a squad of 58 players and there is huge cohesion in terms of partnerships, which benefits Ireland at Test level. If you look at Leinster's front-row they have the likes of Andrew Porter, Dan Sheehan and Tadhg Furlong as starters but on the bench they have further internationals in the shape of Ronan Kelleher, Jack Boyle, Gus McCarthy and Thomas Clarkson, along with a senior France international in Rabah Slimani. To put it into context their two first choice hookers are in the British & Irish Lions squad to tour Australia this summer. That is the level of depth and competition for places needed for Welsh rugby to thrive. Also, with greater depth there will be less of a drop off when teams suffer injuries. Join WalesOnline Rugby's WhatsApp Channel here to get the breaking news sent straight to your phone for free There are also 32 non-Welsh qualified players in Wales, so fewer professional clubs would result in a significant reduction, but the ones that are signed should in theory be marquee players in the same bracket as All Blacks superstar Jordie Barrett who is on a sabbatical at Leinster. At international level Ireland is mainly Leinster with the likes of Tadhg Beirne and Bundee Aki added in on top. The players are all in sync with each other and also benefit from being part of a squad which is regularly competing at the cutting edge of competitions. Wales needs to produce something similar. Two or three clubs competing every year in the quarter-finals of the Champions Cup as a minimum, with the aim of winning is what is being discussed behind closed doors. It is close to impossible to achieve this with four clubs. Talent needs to be concentrated to increase competition for places which should in theory drive up standards across the board which was the thinking behind moving to regional rugby back in 2003. Also, it should also be an aim of the WRU to have at least one club participate in the financially lucrative Club World Cup which will be launched in 2028. Latter stage participation will also significantly improve commercial performances and bring in money across the board. But what also needs to be taken into consideration is what structure underpins the professional game. A new-look Super Rygbi Cymru If the WRU decides to reduce to three or two clubs there needs to be greater investment in Super Rygbi Cymru so it can potentially mirror New Zealand's NPC. The first season of SRC has been positive with the competition achieving far greater alignment to the pathway than the old Welsh Premiership did. But the gap between the professional game and the SRC still needs to be bridged significantly before it is anywhere near the level on offer in New Zealand. But if the WRU reduces the number of professional sides it will have the money to invest in the SRC to significantly increase standards, interest among fans who still hold famous club names dear and commercial possibilities. Get the latest breaking Welsh rugby news stories sent straight to your inbox with our FREE daily newsletter. Sign up here. Naturally, there will also be more professional standard players available to SRC teams if there are fewer professional clubs. If we go down to two professional clubs they will have far deeper squads and will release a greater percentage of players to play in the SRC. Article continues below The discussions at PRB level have to focus on what is needed to get the men's national side competing at the top end of the world game again The way to do that is to have professional clubs regularly competing for and winning silverware. Those at the top of Welsh are increasingly aware the status quo simply cannot deliver that.
South Wales Argus
15 hours ago
- South Wales Argus
Taine Basham eyes Wales recall after Dragons exit to Cardiff
The dynamic back rower has left Rodney Parade for the Arms Park after seven seasons, 109 appearances and 21 tries for the club. The 25-year-old from Talywain has previously been on the radar of English clubs but it is a desire to force his way back into the Test frame that led to a Cardiff switch. Basham, an explosive openside or number eight, won the last of his 17 caps off the bench against England in 2024 and is currently behind Jac Morgan and Tommy Reffell in the pecking order at 7 and Taulupe Faletau and Aaron Wainwright at 8. He hopes that a fresh club challenge can help him return to the form that saw him impress against New Zealand, South Africa and Australia in the 2021 autumn internationals. IMPRESSIVE: Taine Basham caught the eye for Wales against New Zealand in 2021 (Image: David Davies) 'My rise to international rugby was fairly quick and I haven't been in recent squads,' said Basham, who played at the 2023 World Cup. 'A new environment and set of peers will hopefully be good for me because I don't have the number of caps that I thought I would have by now. 'I've seen a lot of people who have stayed at the Dragons for all of their career but I felt that I needed something different and a change of scene. 'I'm going to focus on getting back to the form of 2021 when I played well against the southern hemisphere teams because I am desperate to get back in that Welsh set-up.' Basham signed a one-year contract extension in April 2024 after interest from Saracens, yet it wasn't just Wales ambitions that led to the Cardiff switch. The back rower might not be available to experience some good-natured jibes from the terrace when the Blue and Blacks look to extend their 19-game winning streak over the Dragons on Friday, October 17. SWITCH: Taine Basham has left the Dragons for Cardiff (Image: Gareth Everett) 'It was the game that I looked for first when the fixture list came out but we are expecting another baby boy around mid-October,' said Basham, who has a three-year-old son Tomas with his partner Giovanna. 'Whatever happens, happens. We've got the derby at the Arms Park that I will hopefully be involved in and I just look forward to a very 'warm welcome' whenever I do make the return to Rodney Parade!' Basham consistently caught the eye after being given his Dragons debut under Bernard Jackman at the Scarlets in January, 2018. He is one of just seven players to have scored a hat-trick for the club – in a superb display against Castres in 2019 as Wales coach Wayne Pivac watched on – and Jason Forster is the only back rower to have crossed more times. 'I was at the Dragons since I was 14 and made some really good connections and friendships,' said Basham. 'I've got so many fond memories and all of the staff have been so good to me all the way through, especially James Chapron, who was my academy manager. I've met so many good people and will stay in touch. 'I was at the Dragons for seven seasons and a big target was to get my name on the board in the Bisley Room for 100 appearances. I'm proud to have done that.'
Daily Mail
21 hours ago
- Daily Mail
The man with the most important job in Scottish rugby right now is essentially phoning it in from Bondi Beach, writes Calum Crowe
Franco Smith is not a man known for wild displays of emotion. Generally speaking, the Glasgow Warriors head coach usually wears a facial expression that would turn Medusa to stone. But there was a raw sense of candour in Smith's voice when he spoke to journalists in the aftermath of Glasgow's defeat to Leinster in the URC semi-finals last weekend.
