Dragons

melkdave says...

@Papapoppy

I too would love to see a 5th welsh region espically in the north..There is the player talant for one in Wales just not the conviction from the WRU to make it happen.For to long they have been just concered about saving money where ever possible rather than expanding the proffesional player base.Unfortunatly it will never happen unless the Pro12 get a decent TV deal and that isnt likely atm as the league matches i just dont matter to most teams atr the end of the day.Hence falling attendances if the league games mattered say if only the top 6 qualified for H/Cup rugby(rest play AMLIN) then the teams would have to respond and hopfully that would give more bums on seats and a TV deal eventually and hopfully a 5th welsh region and a 3rd scotish club .God knows both countries would benifit from a 14 team league in the long run I also feel the WRUs money saving attidtude is now starting to have an adverse effect on welsh rugby.The lack of an A team is stunting welsh player development imo. How many people would have liked to see the likes of D.Bigger /JTovey -A.Beck/S.Shingler -J.Edwards /A.Shingler ect actually play proper international class rugby against the Saxons or USA -Samoa ect before getting into the national team .Its a big step up from club rugby to international and so far Wales have been a tad lucky that the youngsters have seemed to make that step .The question is can they continue to do so in the lfullness of time ??

Posted 15:49 07th March 2012

RugbyLocos says...

It's all just panic stations at the moment - and in any case, what is wrong with players looking to get whatever remuneration they can for their toil ? rugby is a short career at the end of the day. Let the french clubs pay the big bucks and let the Welsh regions bring through more young talent - that's fine by me - especially when you look at the product that has come through over the past 2 years.

Posted 15:11 02nd March 2012

melkdave says...

@makemehappy

Going down to 3 regions would be a massive mistake for welsh rugby.As it would serverly deplete the pool of players for the national team and would give less oppotunity for young talant to progress to professional in Wales .All you would be doing is encoraging the young talant to move to England ala Shingler at London Irish to fullfill their dreams and have them playing for England rather than Wales when the get residancy qualified.Every player in the welsh U20s this year unless they have signed a contract with the WRU is still able to play for any country though blood or residancy as they havent played against any other nations 2nd team this year as France again have a A team for 2012.The technicallity which is stopping Shingler playing for Scotland atm .Also look at what happened in Scotland when they went from 3 to 2 clubs / regions they are struggling for class players because of the small pool Also although both clubs are packed with scottish internationals they both underachive because they are guarrenteed H/Cup rugby so the league dosent matter they are their bread and butter games and attendances for them are falling fast because they dont matter .The same would creep into welsh rugby its bad enough now with only one club not getting H/Cup rugby but at least there is some competion.The answer is MAKE THE LEAGUE REVALENT to all the clubs by only having the top 6 from the league qualify for H/Cup rugby then watch attendances start to grow thus giving more revenue for the clubs and hopfully a TV deal as the league matches now count

Posted 14:25 01st March 2012

pembs says...

Lawynd, dwayne peel, Andy Powell, marc Jones and nick mcleod all play for that well known French club sale. I could continue, but I won't.

Posted 12:12 01st March 2012