Lydiate leaving Dragons

Bones7 says...

Devil's Advocate time - he's playing with awful players in a terrible league, as a Wales fan I'd rather he was exposed to top level competition and someone else can come through and be developed by the Dragons. Small playing resources will benefit from as many players as possible playing top level rugby, and by moving players abroad the opportunity will be created.

Posted 21:36 05th December 2012

melkdave says...

The answer does seem to be cental contracts for welsh rugby,but as usual the WRU seems to be penny pinching.For the wont of £3.5 million,sounds alot but thats £100K for 35 players ,+what the clubs can offer on top say £30K or whatever,Thats comrapable with the going rate in France or anywhere i expect .It also cuts the club wage bill i expect by at least half if not more for the star players so they are in better finacial health aswell.£63 million gross the WRU made last year iirc,just what are they doing with the money is the question??No A team expenditure ,no new region,formed,and its not going to the profesional clubs atm.Milienium stadium should be paid off by now ,and if not why not .Also hire it out for pop tours ect,more often given that SW England has no where able to hold big big pop concerts ect it should be making money hand over fist.Wake up WRU for gods sake.

Posted 16:09 05th December 2012

rugby_rockstar says...

I don't think the welsh players are in a position of strength right now. they haven;t won a match since March. so now is the time to hit 'em with a manditory release cluase. Even if they all get together and threaten a strike, theres afair arument that a 1 divison welsh team will achieve as much as the current bunch of losers.

WRU, do something for crying out loud.

Posted 13:27 05th December 2012

rugby_rockstar says...

Maybe the WRU need to get even stricter but in a smart way.

Rather than a blanket ban, The WRU's solitictors should draft a cover all relase date clause covering training camps as well as test match weeks. They then tell the players that they will not be elligable for welsh selection unless this clause is made part of their club contract. Then they are off the hook. The WRU have made it abundandly clear what the player has to do to play for Wales, if they don't get that clause written into their contract then its the player who's screwed up.

The other good point in this strategy is that french and english clubs will have decide whether the player is still worth signing, which in turn is great for welsh rugby because there's more chance that they'll stay in Wales.

Win Win situation. So come on WRU put the onus on the player to ensure his availability or take the flak. Your call, but quite frankly its a bit iof a joke that nobody at the WRU can solve this issue.

Okay, Lydiate maybe be upset that the goal posts have changed, but the WRU are future proofed and you are never going to please everybody all of the time. whats the alternative, do nothing becasue it may upset the players who are causing the problem. TOUGH. Next week it'll be another big name UNLESS action is taken.

Posted 13:22 05th December 2012

GCP_jones says...

When are WRU gonna call stop with this policy, is the decline of the Welsh national team and the exodus from their clubs connected? its certainly starting to look like it.

It also effects the quality of the copmpettions their clubs play in, the only winner is the player I suppose which is fair enough.

Posted 12:21 05th December 2012

cliffguy says...

Good luck to him, can you blame him? He really is too fine a player to be stuck in an under-achieving team like Dragons (though I do feel for them - they have put in some terrific performances wihout much return). The WRU are faced with a crisis; Roger Lewis keeps asking us to wait for Big News coming up. It had better be good! Wales is packed full of terrific players, but the regional set-up is a disaster area.

Posted 12:05 05th December 2012