Wales’s Six Nations fixture against England in Cardiff on Saturday is still hanging in the balance before crucial talks on Wednesday aimed at averting a potential strike by the country’s leading players.
Warren Gatland says he remains hopeful of fielding a team this weekend but has had to delay naming his matchday squad with negotiations not yet concluded. The decision to scrap Tuesday’s scheduled team announcement and to call off a planned afternoon training session were merely the latest red distress signals to emerge from the Wales team hotel in the Vale of Glamorgan.
Gatland did his best to sound upbeat – “having spoken to a few people, I am confident we will get some resolution,” said the head coach – but his team’s preparations have already been seriously compromised. Never before, certainly, has every professional player in Wales been invited to attend a meeting barely 72 hours before a major international. Strike action is being mooted because of continuing uncertainty over player contracts for next season, with the Welsh Rugby Union and the four regions having yet to sign a new six-year funding agreement.
With some players, as a result, unsure if they will have a job beyond the end of this season there is significant anger and frustration. The players are pushing for the abolishment of the controversial rule allowing only Welsh players with 60 caps to be eligible for the national team if they are based abroad, and the removal of a pay clause which would see 20%of their wages becoming performance-related and player representation on Wales’s Professional Rugby Board.
Gatland made clear the threat of strike action was very real – “I think it is a genuine threat – there is no doubt about that” – but remains cautiously optimistic a resolution can be found. “Hopefully those things get resolved and the boys turn up on Thursday raring to go for Saturday,” he said. “What the players were asking for is definitely reasonable. Hopefully the discussions will be acceptable to both sides … you have to find some compromise.”
Cancelling the biggest Wales fixture of the year would almost certainly trigger the financial collapse of at least one region and pitchfork the WRU into another almighty row with the Six Nations, sponsors and broadcasters. A full-on strike would, accordingly, be a massive step but major financial cracks have been evident in the Welsh rugby model for years.
Not only are the players facing significant pay cuts but sweeping regional budget cuts could lead to all four teams – Scarlets, Ospreys, Dragons and Cardiff – becoming uncompetitive in both the United Rugby Championship and the Heineken Champions’ Cup. The knock-on effect for the national team would be sizeable as well.
Small wonder Wales’s players have been locked in talks with interim WRU chief executive Nigel Walker and members of the PRB. In the end Gatland decided more “clarity” was required before he could name his side to face England, with the sight of a hobbling Alex Cuthbert in a medical boot further complicating the equation.
It begged the question of whether Gatland is regretting agreeing to return to Wales for a second spell in charge. He says he was unaware of the behind-the-scenes turmoil and only grasped the true seriousness of the situation last week. “I wish I had known a few things that were going on, actually,” he said. “It has been a challenge … you have just got to take it on the chin and focus on your job in terms of preparing the team.”
From a logistical perspective Gatland remains a fan of the existing 60-cap rule – “There’s an advantage in being based in Wales and being part of the set-up to get more preparation time” – but a new threshold of 25 caps may now replace it. Wage levels are also set to fall appreciably as professional rugby continues to grapple with the financial after-effects of the Covid pandemic.
“It’s not just in Wales, but everywhere else as well,” said Gatland. “There needs to be a reset and balance in making sure people aren’t over-spending. There are a number of issues in Wales in terms of keeping within our means. There’s probably been an over-spend compared to money generated in the game and the players are aware of that. They know that going forward there probably needs to be a little bit of a reduction in salaries.”
The growing anxiety felt by many Welsh-based regional players, however, is all too real. The experienced Cardiff prop Dmitri Arhip, who needs surgery on a recently torn achilles tendon, is among those extremely concerned about the future. “There are three months left before my contract expires and I don’t know what will happen next?” he said in a post on Instagram. “I am very disappointed that we are in this position and (by) the lack of movement and urgency across Welsh rugby.”
