What Welsh rugby shake-up means and why it matters

The rugby world so often looks on either in awe or pity as Welsh rugby's fortunes rise and fall like the landscape of the country.

A nation of just three million - a third of the size of London - so regularly punches well above its weight on the pitch only to then inevitably suffer the deepest lows.

It now faces its biggest shake-up in 20 years after Welsh rugby's governing body announced it will cut one professional team by 2027, invest further in the club level and revamp both the academy structure and women's game.

BBC Sport looks at how we got here, why should anyone outside of Wales care and what could happen next.

While the extremes can be thrilling and worrying in equal measure, world rugby cries out for stability in a country that was among the founding nations of, what is now, the Six Nations and the World Cup.

"Rugby needs a strong Wales like football needs a strong Brazil," said former Wales international Chris Horsman.

"The game needs a country that has all that heritage, history and passion for the sport. Even in England, they want to have a decent Wales, even if just for the rivalries."

Wealthier clubs may start circling and national captain Jac Morgan has already been linked with Saracens after saying he would not stay in Wales if Ospreys do not exist.

But there is a broader issue. At a time when the sport is fighting for eyeballs in a crowded market, rugby cannot afford not to have a strong global presence from a country with such a heartfelt investment in the game.

A Six Nations trip to the Principality Stadium remains on the bucket list of players and supporters alike.

But rugby is built on healthy rivalry and robust competition and the game at international and club level is poorer - financially and emotionally - for the lack of meaningful Welsh impact.

"Rugby finances across the world are challenging, with static media rights values and sponsors looking for improved deals in a sport that is struggling to grow its fan numbers," said Welsh Rugby Union chairman Richard Collier-Keywood.

"Wales is not alone. In their last set of accounts England lost £43m, Scotland lost £11m, Ireland lost £15m and France lost £11m."

The ill-health of the Welsh game has not happened overnight. We are only now seeing the symptoms of neglect that lay below the surface of national success, steadily spreading through every limb, be it club, regional or elite level.

"I was fortunate in my time that there were people around the team that protected us from the suits and we had success on the field because of that," former captain Alun Wyn Jones told Scrum V.

"It was success that should have grown the game... but it didn't. We have wasted a lot of time."

Money - and the lack of it - has inevitably played a major role in this decline.

For too long Welsh rugby lived a life on credit, reliant on rich benefactors such as Peter Thomas (Cardiff), Tony Brown (Dragons) and Mike Cuddy (Ospreys) who repeatedly dipped into their hefty wallets to bring the likes of Percy Montgomery, Jerry Collins and even Jonah Lomu to Wales.

They were megastars who people were happy to pay to watch, while a Welsh golden generation of Shane Williams, Alun Wyn Jones and George North emerged.

But the loss in effect of the national academy - which has now been reversed - put a roundabout in the pathway system and Max Boyce's mythical 'outside-half factory' ground to a halt, pulled down the shutters and stuck a for sale sign outside.

Wales is not alone in feeling the pinch, but perhaps feels it more acutely than other nations without those sugar daddies.

"We inherited a mess," was the damning summary from Collier-Keywood of the WRU finances when the new board took charge in January 2024.

"It felt like the organisation was not equipped to run a £100m business.

"Indeed, in January 2024 the WRU had run out of money - we were up against our overdraft limit, and we needed additional support from our banks. We were spending more than we were earning and the money received from CVC whereby we sold rights in URC and Six Nations has now run out."

That decision, Collier-Keywood revealed, means Welsh rugby is missing out on £5m every year.

What emerged as a side topic from the WRU's public consultation was that Welsh rugby fans have limited affinity with the United Rugby Championship.

This is not least due to the distances covered across five countries, including South Africa, and the subsequent lack of travelling supporters as well as a lack of heartfelt rivalry between the 16 teams.

But the WRU spelled out why the prospect of an Anglo-Welsh league remains a faint one.

"A significant number of people advocated that Wales should play against English clubs in a new Anglo-Welsh league," said Collier-Keywood.

"To play in [The Prem], all 10 current PRL clubs would need to agree, together with the RFU, for us to be invited to join. This is not a choice within the control of the WRU board."

Clubs in England's second-tier Championship would also oppose any such invitation, which would in addition involve untangling various broadcast deals across both The Prem and URC.

A Welsh side has not won the URC - or even come close - since Scarlets in 2017, particularly since the arrival of South African team, but fans must learn to love it, for now.

MPs have already announced plans to question the WRU about the outcome of its consultation and the impact on the sport's wider economic and cultural importance in Wales.

"With rugby woven into the fabric of life in communities up and down the nation, the proposed structural changes announced by the WRU today will resonate far beyond the pitch," said Ruth Jones MP, chair of the Welsh Affairs Committee.

But the big questions fans wants answering are which team will be cut and when?

The WRU had sought to cull two regions but the backlash made it clear that was too far and too much to bear. But still, one will go.

Despite attempts to play down the scenario, it appears a straight battle between Ospreys and Scarlets - the two most successful clubs in the regional rugby era which began in 2003 - for the single west Wales spot.

There remains a hope within the governing body that the two clubs will merge, as they so nearly did so in 2019. That would certainly make a formidable combination but would take a enormous amount of diplomacy - or desperation.

Both teams' funding deal with the WRU expires in June 2027 but the likelihood is that this will be decided before then.

The WRU remained coy over how long they are contracted to provide four teams to the URC, who were firm in their desire for an even number of Welsh teams to safeguard the structure and format of the competition.

The WRU could be liable to pay compensation for withdrawing a team prematurely but negotiations are already taking place over a 15-team league, or about who could take the final place if it remains at 16.

South Africa are said to be against suggestions of inviting a club from the United States or Canada, because of the travel, so could a European option, say from Georgia, Spain or Portugal, or even an English Championship club be an option?

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