Welsh pro rugby 'teetering on brink of collapse' and Gatland 'can't save game without major change', warns ex-Sport Wales boss

Welsh pro rugby is teetering on the brink of collapse. Huw Jones warns that Warren Gatland won't save the game without major changes. He wants the WRU to call an extraordinary general meeting to propose the establishment of a skills-based board to take Welsh rugby forward. The current board consists of eight community club members out of 12. The role of 8-10 board members of companies or governing bodies is to challenge and support the executive. Eight out the 12 board member are elected as either national or district representatives. They are decent people but their backgrounds and lack of experience make them unsuitable to be board directors of an organisation worth £90m.

Welsh pro rugby is in disarray with the WRU and its four professional sides at loggerheads over the future direction of the game. There is a freeze on offering contracts and players are considering their futures. The WRu and the regions have verbally agreed a six-year financial framework but until a deal is officially signed, the contract freeze remains. Jones is concerned that player wages will be aggressively pushed down in Wales. The relationship between theWRU's supply chain and professional clubs is dire. Dragons RFC has been critical of WRUs financial policies.

Welsh pro rugby is teetering on the brink of collapse. Ex-Sport Wales boss, Mike Gatland, questions the WRU's decision to place all the financial risk with the clubs.

The WRU is unable to agree how much it pays the pro clubs under the PRA. Players are under strain not knowing if they have a job after June next year. WRPA is critical of the fact that the WRu chose to invest in a hotel in partnership with Rightacres. Steve Phillips told the Joint Supporters Group in April 2021 that players are not his employees and policies were for the clubs.