Welsh Rugby 2013/2014

[IanD]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-union/23572731

Toby Faletau extends Newport Gwent Dragons stay to June 2016

Great news for the Dragons.

[ceemec]

One down, five to go. One would have to think at least one of AWJ, Adam Jones, Warburton, Evans or Halfpenny will move to France this season. Very bad group of players to all be coming to the end of their contracts at the same time.

[JB1973]

I would expect adam and awj to stay at the ospreys , AWJ is the captain and imo will be wales captain from this season , he comes from an affluent family and is not short of a few quid plus he has an on going issue with this fathers illness . Adam is unlikley to leave with his young family and at his age plus he is rumored to be going into the wru and osprey coaching set up .

Ian evans i can see going , he is injured a lot for the ospreys plus we have ospreys have lots of options at lock with awj, king, peers, ryan jones plus 3 under 20 locks and beard and thornton in the under 18 set up. His hometown club is in the blues region so he may end up there? However it's more likely england or france for him

The blues appear to be skint but i can see warburton staying as he is a local lad who like AWJ appears to be ok cash wise and his body may not be able to stand up to the rigours of the gp or french rugby and he has turpic breathing down his neck for the welsh 7 jersey. so i'm guessing he would stay to safeguard his welsh spot and prolong his career

halfpenny is a real home boy who spends most of his freetime watching the swans play football or down at gorseinon rfc with his mates . Not speaking out of turn but he does'lt strike me as the type of kid who would do well lifestyle wise in france. However with the money he could make there can he turn it down?

that could go either way for me but I know he is very well thought of by the ospreys management and if we were to splash any cash we have he would be the 1 they would go for and use as the regional figure head

john davies is not someone 1 know much about , he has been at the scarlets since he was a kid,, he supported them as a boy, is welsh speaker and his brother has just signed a pro contract with the region so he does have strong ties with them.

however he does live in cardiff (so may prefer city life) is single with no kids so maybe he may want a year or two in the sun to fatten up his bank balance.

I wouldn't like to call that one

ps rhys priestland and scott williams are also out of contract in the summer, two more of the welsh squad could be leaving home, not great when we have a world cup looming

[JB1973]

I would expect adam and awj to stay at the ospreys , AWJ is the captain and imo will be wales captain from this season , he comes from an affluent family and is not short of a few quid plus he has an on going issue with this fathers illness . Adam is unlikley to leave with his young family and at his age plus he is rumored to be going into the wru and osprey coaching set up .

Ian evans i can see going , he is injured a lot for the ospreys plus we have ospreys have lots of options at lock with awj, king, peers, ryan jones plus 3 under 20 locks and beard and thornton in the under 18 set up. His hometown club is in the blues region so he may end up there?

The blues are skint but i can see warburton staying as he is a local lad who like AWJ appears to be ok cash wise and his body may not be able to stand up to the rigours of french rugby

halfpenny is a real home boy who spends most of his freetime watching the swans play football or down at gorseinon rfc with his mates . Not speaking out of turn but he does'lt strike me as the type of kid who would do well lifestyle wise in france. However with the money he could make there can he turn it down?

that could go either way for me but I know he is very well thought of by the ospreys management and if we were to splash any cash we have he would be the 1 they would go for and use as the regional figure head

john davies is not someone 1 know much about , he has been at the scarlets since he was a kid,, he supported them as a boy, is welsh speaker and his brother has just signed a pro contract with the region so he does have strong ties with them.

however he does live in cardiff (so may prefer city life) is single with no kids so maybe he may want a year or two in the sun to fatten up his bank balance.

I wouldn't like to call that one

ps rhys priestland and scott williams are also out of contract in the summer, two more of the welsh squad could be leaving home, not great when we have a world cup looming

[bonzo]

I would expect adam and awj to stay at the ospreys , AWJ is the captain and imo will be wales captain from this season , he comes from an affluent family and is not short of a few quid plus he has an on going issue with this fathers illness . Adam is unlikley to leave with his young family and at his age plus he is rumored to be going into the wru and osprey coaching set up .

Ian evans i can see going , he is injured a lot for the ospreys plus we have ospreys have lots of options at lock with awj, king, peers, ryan jones plus 3 under 20 locks and beard and thornton in the under 18 set up. His hometown club is in the blues region so he may end up there?

The blues are skint but i can see warburton staying as he is a local lad who like AWJ appears to be ok cash wise and his body may not be able to stand up to the rigours of french rugby

halfpenny is a real home boy who spends most of his freetime watching the swans play football or down at gorseinon rfc with his mates . Not speaking out of turn but he does'lt strike me as the type of kid who would do well lifestyle wise in france. However with the money he could make there can he turn it down?

that could go either way for me but I know he is very well thought of by the ospreys management and if we were to splash any cash we have he would be the 1 they would go for and use as the regional figure head

john davies is not someone 1 know much about , he has been at the scarlets since he was a kid,, he supported them as a boy, is welsh speaker and his brother has just signed a pro contract with the region so he does have strong ties with them.

however he does live in cardiff (so may prefer city life) is single with no kids so maybe he may want a year or two in the sun to fatten up his bank balance.

I wouldn't like to call that one

ps rhys priestland and scott williams are also out of contract in the summer, two more of the welsh squad could be leaving home, not great when we have a world cup looming

JB1973, I just want to say thanks for posting on here - your posts are always insightful, and it great to get both an outsider's view on Leinster and Irish rugby and an insider's view on what's happening in Wales.

Over the long run, I reckon Irish and Welsh rugby will stand or fall together. At club/province/region level, the Pro12 and H-Cup can't survive without healthy and competitive Welsh and Irish teams... and at international level, both countries need the other to be strong in order to keep the standard of NH rugby high enough to compete with the SH.

[JB1973]

thanks very much, I enjoy this forum lots of rugby knowledge, good humor, common sense and free from the wums and idiots that infest so many forums.

It's a pleasure to discuss rugby with you guys/girls

[ceemec]

Thanks, JB. The insight into the Welsh game is appreciated as much as the external view of our game.

Interesting information about each of the out of contract players. Seems a lot of these guys are quite attached to their region/club/home. With that said, I'd have assumed Lydiate would score very highly for that criteria also, no? He's not from the Newport area but came through their ranks from the academy right through to where he is today and also was shown a lot of patience and loyalty through injuries.

Hopefully all the players stay. If many more leave, there's a knock on to Irish rugby to be felt through the diminishing quality of the Pro12.

[JB1973]

Thanks, JB. The insight into the Welsh game is appreciated as much as the external view of our game.

Interesting information about each of the out of contract players. Seems a lot of these guys are quite attached to their region/club/home. With that said, I'd have assumed Lydiate would score very highly for that criteria also, no? He's not from the Newport area but came through their ranks from the academy right through to where he is today and also was shown a lot of patience and loyalty through injuries.

Hopefully all the players stay. If many more leave, there's a knock on to Irish rugby to be felt through the diminishing quality of the Pro12.

Lydiate is slighly different he has been at the region since he was a kid but he is from Manchester originally and grew up in mid wales before moving to gwent.

He also had that awful neck injury that nearly finished his career as a 20 year old , coupled with his serious ankle injury I think he thought he;d take the money while he still could.

Plus he knows (like phillips and gethin before him) regardless of if he plays in wales or not Gatland will still pick him so he doesn't have to worry about his test slot.

I agree the pro 12 needs its big stars but I have a feeling the WRU is happy enough for the welsh lads to play out of wales and see their places at regional level taken by welsh youngsters who then add to the player pool/

Sadly this means lower gates at the games. welsh regions having little chance of success and can also mean restrictions on welsh players attending training camps etc

I take my hat off to the irish provinces for being able to keep pretty much all your big stars (bar sexton of course) and for the way your sides are able to attract large gates on a weekly basis,

For a "rugby mad" country , the number of people who turn up to watch the regional game is a disgrace

[ronk]

Wales have been prioritizing the big international games to an extent that hasn't been easy for their loyal fans but has been great for the glory seekers. At this point letting most of the expensive talent leave and doing lots of development is working in some ways. Cardiff had an insane number of Lions 4 years ago but aside from a HC semi it didn't do them much good. Edinburgh had one of those too.

This season was a wake up call (I think/hope) for some. The (Bradley inspired) Edinburgh performance model has been shown up while Glasgow look to be building much better foundations. Matching going/watching fans are responding better to seeing their teams competing day in day out than looking for upsets and/or cup runs.

It's been the same to an extent in Wales and you can see the how Munster are paying the price for HC focus when compared to how Leinster have done over the years. The English attempts to force the Rabo to be more serious may be totally unnecessary.

[dropkick]

I agree the pro 12 needs its big stars but I have a feeling the WRU is happy enough for the welsh lads to play out of wales and see their places at regional level taken by welsh youngsters who then add to the player pool/

This has worked well so far but the problem is if they all start going to France it will effect Wales' performances.


The former person in charge SRU was an accountant (I forget his name) who was brought in to help balance the books. He had the same idea of letting foreign clubs pay the wages of the Scottish players and so the Scottish cregions could then bring through young Scottish players. He did well to balance the books but the game was dying in Scotland through lack of investment. The new people in charge of the SRU decided to invest in the game. That was a few years ago. They gave the Scottish teams more money to compete and it looks like it could be starting to pay off. Glasgow look a quality side now and I'm sure they'll start getting higher attendances. Edinburgh have been poor but that was not down to funding. In Ireland Connacht have been helped to help themselves and they're going very well and looking stronger again this season.

[JB1973]

refer to below (duplicate post sorry!)

[JB1973]

I agree with you, I think our recent success at test level (in the 6 nations) has been in spite of not because of the WRU way of running the game.

The regions are hugely underfunded and the WRU also play more tests than any other home nations (even england who have a bigger player pool and lots more clubs to shoulder the burden)

As you once we have an entire test team in France it will clearly affect the build up our squad has and see our performances get worse but the WRU are so fixed with the short term eg clearing the debt and filling the MS as many times a year with people who don;t know 1 end of a rugby ball from another it;s staggering.

The welsh players have always been been targeted by RL clubs (Goodall is the only big name Irish star i can think off who went north?) now it looks like the french have took their place


Given the daft way regional rugby was set up (and you can blame the two sides who demanded to be stand alone teams eg cardiff and llanelli for this) the regions were always going to be up against it'

Just look athe geographical split We have 4 regions 2 within 10 miles of each other and 2 within 15 miles of each other, yet we have huge swathes of the country who have no team to support or no side they can feel affiliation to (eg north wales which has 25% of the population and the valleys a huge rugby playing area)

There is a quick fix which no 1 has the nerve to try and thats to cut the regions from 4 to 3, merge the scarlets and the ospreys, merge the dragons and the blues. Drop any city/town name from the title and have a west wales team, east wales team and then a development region up north.

You'd instantly have two very strong sides and nothing attracts fans like success, you'd have less teams to fund so more chance of retaining your top players , you;d have a side in the north with a huge fan base (that isn't fighting two premiership soccer sides like we are down here) and we have a side where we ensure our best young players (alongside 2 or 3 quality nwq and some older heads can play week in week out)

It will never happen though, there are far too many self serving people involved in the WRU and sadly in the regions, you make a great point about funding.


since Roger lewis has come in my local club has seen its funding cut from 23,000 to £3000 and our biggest money maker believe it or not has come from having the foreign tv stations that show the swans game live every week , the clubhouse is packed from 2pm to 6 on a saturday and it's helping us keep afloat Also with the WRU don;t get me started on how we cannot afford an a team that will help prepare players for the jump from regional to test match rugby but we can have a 7s team along with the accompanying blazers who can fly to veags,moscow,duabi etc for a good jolly up. Which do you guys think does more to develop players for international rugby?

The SRU have the right idea speculate to accumlate is the only way for long term success, as for Connacht they have signed better players than any welsh region they have less call ups than welsh sides and are a good bet to finish above 2 of the welsh regions this year,

[ceemec]

Big hint from Adam Jones that he's happy to depart for the money. Really puts it up to the WRU.

"I have to look at what is best for me and my family...whether it is to stay here or go to France," the 32-year-old told the BBC. "As much as I love this region (Ospreys), if I can look after my family by going to play in France, I am willing to do that. You would be dull to turn that money down. I wouldn't want to cut any ties with the region but my family comes first and I have to look at that very seriously if any offers come in."

[IanD]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-union/23728727

Pro12: Hooker Matthew Rees to lead Cardiff Blues

Good call in my opinion. If Rees can stay fit I think he is a class act.

[Donny B.]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-union/23728727

Pro12: Hooker Matthew Rees to lead Cardiff Blues

Good call in my opinion. If Rees can stay fit I think he is a class act.

That's the big question though. He seems to have been near permanently injured since the 2009 Lions tour.

[simonokeeffe]

with Hibbard's injur profile there is a dnager if Rees plays well and stays fit they then lose him to Welsh squads
Not to be harsh but that Cardiff squad looks very weak minus their welsh internationals

[JB1973]

The blues have a decent first xv but a lot of that pack are very injury prone (Gethin Jenkins ,M Rees, B Davies and Warburton) throw in the mix they have no back up at 10 for young Patchell and some very poor back up players in the pack and this season is likely to be another struggle for them .It wouldn't surprise me if they finish bottom of the welsh regions
On the plus side they do have a excellent young centre Corry Allen to look out for and I expect him to make the welsh squad this season however if he can't get any ball even good players like him will struggle.

PS It now Looks very likely Adam Jones will be plying his trade away from the Ospreys next year

[simonokeeffe]

The blues have a decent first xv but a lot of that pack are very injury prone (Gethin Jenkins ,M Rees, B Davies and Warburton) throw in the mix they have no back up at 10 for young Patchell and some very poor back up players in the pack and this season is likely to be another struggle for them .It wouldn't surprise me if they finish bottom of the welsh regions
On the plus side they do have a excellent young centre Corry Allen to look out for and I expect him to make the welsh squad this season however if he can't get any ball even good players like him will struggle.

PS It now Looks very likely Adam Jones will be plying his trade away from the Ospreys next year

saying theyve a decent 1st XV is a bit generous

Rees, Jenkins, Davies, Warby, Patchell, and back 3

and 5 of them lost to welsh duty

[JB1973]

the blues 1st xv would proably be

halfpenny Cuthbert allen evans robinson patchell Williams

gethin m rees Andrews reed davies palu warburton pretorious


that's not that bad (not great either ) but i'd say decent is about right.

I agree with you once they lose their players to welsh duty/injury they don't have much behind them.

I would expect them to struggle next year but then again I expect every welsh region to struggle

[simonokeeffe]

the blues 1st xv would proably be

halfpenny Cuthbert allen evans robinson patchell Williams

gethin m rees Andrews reed davies palu warburton pretorious


that's not that bad (not great either ) but i'd say decent is about right.

I agree with you once they lose their players to welsh duty/injury they don't have much behind them.

I would expect them to struggle next year but then again I expect every welsh region to struggle

I was being a bit cheeky

depends whether warby makes an effort or not too eg RDS last year