Thursday 28 August 2014

Welsh rugby peace deal Live: Updates and reaction as WRU and regions reach ...

Good afternoon. You join as Welsh rugby stands on the brink of a peace deal that will bring an end to the bitter civil war that has blighted the game for the past year.


It is understood representatives from the WRU and four Welsh regions are currently at the Millennium Stadium to sign the deal that will see key players given dual contracts going forward.


We’ll have updates and analysis throughout the afternoon and evening on what should hopefully be a key day in the history of the Welsh game.


Stick with us and keep your fingers crossed!


The rumours have been getting stronger all week that a deal is close to being done. It looks like we might be there, potentially in the next hour or so.


Ruby correspondent Simon Thomas is on his way over to the Millennium Stadium as we speak to wait for the white smoke


It has been a dispute that has raged for years, and Simon Thomas has been looking back at a remarkable timeline of claim, counter-claim and confrontation.


Let’s start by looking at where things really flared up in December 2011…


Dec 2011


Amid mounting financial pressures, Wales’ four regions – the Blues, Ospreys, Scarlets and Dragons – announce a £3.5m salary cap to begin in July 2012.


Regional Rugby Wales chief executive Stuart Gallacher says: “The regions have come together with a shared sense of responsibility to get their own houses in order and find solutions.


“They are working very hard to manage their businesses more effectively in a very difficult environment for everyone.”


Welsh rugby fans waiting for news…





We still await news..but it could be very, very soon


How did we get here?


If you’ve forgotten where it all began, fear not.


Here is Simon Thomas’s full brilliant timeline of an unsavoury saga that looks to nearly be at an end


It’s done!


Welsh rugby’s civil war is finally over, with a peace deal having been signed between the WRU and the four regions.


After well over a year of dispute and disharmony, the two sides met at the Millennium Stadium this afternoon and put pen to paper on a new Rugby Services Agreement.


The six year £60m-plus deal, which runs through to 2020, will bring additional revenue to the professional game and end months of uncertainty over the future of the regions.


It will provide a framework for retaining Wales’ star players and ending the exodus to England and France, with a new system of dual contracts being introduced.


And it will also see the return of the Wales A team after an 11-year absence.


The full story on the new peace agreement is right here



The key details of Welsh rugby’s peace deal…




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A six-year £60m-plus package running through until 2020.




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A core index-linked payment of £6.7m to the regions in return for the release of players for international duty and observing overseas quotas.                        



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An annual pot of £3.3m a year to be set aside to fund dual contracts, with the WRU contributing 60 per cent – about £2m – and the regions 40 per cent.                        



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Wales coach Warren Gatland to decide which players are offered dual contracts                        



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A one off payment of £2m to the regions, with the Scarlets, Blues, Ospreys and Dragons each receiving £500,000.                        



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A further £3.6m loan facility available to the regions for three years of the agreement.                        



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Each region limited to a maximum of six foreign players, plus two time-servers – overseas players going down the qualification route.                        



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Warren Gatland to have access to his home-based players for 13 days prior to the start of an international campaign.                        



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Regions to release players for the out-of-window fourth autumn Test.




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The Wales A team to be reintroduced, with the initial plan being to play one game a year, around Six Nations time.                        



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Gatland’s Law to be implemented, where players who sign future deals with clubs outside of Wales will only be considered for international duty in exceptional circumstances.                        



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Up to three players from each region will be available for Wales 7s selection                        



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Regional academies to be run by the regions, with the WRU providing £600,000 of funding each year


WRU chief Roger Lewis reaction


”This  new agreement creates a new and positive relationship within Welsh rugby and is firmly based on the rugby priorities for Wales.


“The National Dual Contracts represent a radical step forward in our mutual aim of retaining Welsh talent here in Wales.


”The new contracts will help us keep more of our best players in Wales and will help stem the flow abroad of the talent we develop here through our academies and Regions.


“I want to thank all four Regions and their representative body, Regional Rugby Wales, for all the hard work involved across recent months. In particular I also want to thank all our supporters, sponsors, staff and especially our players, coaches and rugby staff for their patience.


“The new RSA creates a new rugby environment within which together we can nurture and develop the professional game in Wales.


“It has taken us a long time to reach the conclusion of our negotiations, but that is because of the complicated structure and radical nature of the deal which matches financial distributions with deliverable rugby priorities.


 “The Regions are a vitally important component of the structure of Welsh rugby and they have to be able to thrive and develop for the game in Wales to remain successful.


”We now have an agreement which will ensure the pyramid structure which leads from the grassroots right through to the international team is strong and truly fit for purpose.”


Chairman of Regional Rugby Wales (RRW) Nigel Short 


“Following long and detailed negotiations, RRW is satisfied that the new agreement with the WRU creates a fair, progressive and credible foundation to protect and support the best interests of Welsh Rugby into the future; with the core objective of delivering a sustainable and competitive professional game in Wales.


“The new agreement is a positive step forward for the long-term benefit of Welsh rugby with plenty of hard work still to be done to ensure that the game in Wales prospers, works in partnership and develops at all levels.


“The Regions would like to express their sincere thanks and gratitude to all their stakeholders and colleagues in the Regions; our players, coaches, staff, supporters groups, sponsors and partners all of whom have remained supportive whilst living with increased degrees of uncertainty.


“With greater clarity and the security of a new agreement, the Regions can forward plan with more focus, working hard to ensure their independent businesses remain competitive. Things will not change overnight – but securing our new agreement in partnership is a positive forward step.


“Clear mutual goals now form the basis of a new agreement that will create a stronger and more productive environment, where our interests are more closely aligned and a thriving domestic game that feeds into the long-term success of the Welsh international rugby.”





Here’s the full WRU and RRW press release for you to mull over…


A £60 million Rugby Services Agreement (RSA) which provides a new and positive contractual relationship between the WRU and its four Regions for the next six years has been agreed.


It marks a new era for the professional game in Wales with National Dual Contracts for key players on offer for the first time.


The WRU and the Regions will utilise the contracts to focus on ensuring a core of leading Welsh international players remain in Wales with the four Regions and a vital facility to help retain key individuals who make it to the top of the player development structure now in place in Wales.


The new RSA is formulated around rugby protocols which define a collaborative approach between Wales and Regional coaching and backroom teams to ensure the best Welsh qualified players are identified, nurtured and retained.


The RSA delivers £8.7m a year to the Regions guaranteed to be spent on Welsh qualified players with a complex matrix of funding also guaranteeing a further £3.6m in loan facilities from the WRU repayable during the term of the RSA. Each Region also receives a one-off £500,000 payment on signature of the new RSA.


Within the £8.7m an annual sum of £2m from the WRU has been allocated to be spent by the governing body directly on the National Dual Contracts with an additional £1.3m from the Regions added to the annual spend or £3.3m in total.


Players to be offered a new National Dual Contract will be chosen by the national Head Coach and will become WRU employees.


A new Senior Player Selection Policy has also been confirmed which declares that players based outside Wales in future will not be eligible for selection subject to a number of exceptions which the National Head Coach has the right to make. This policy will become active once a minimum of six senior players prioritised by the Wales Head Coach have been signed to National Dual Contracts.


The limit on foreign players in Regional squads has been capped at a maximum of six while each Region will be allowed two so-called time serving players who will be available for Welsh selection after three years residency.


The RSA transfers management of and responsibility for the four Regional Academies for emerging talent in Wales from the WRU to the four Regions with £600,000 of support each year from the WRU in line with a proposal included in the 2009 Participation Agreement.


Within the RSA the WRU retains the right to play up to 13 senior international games each year with a 13-day release facility for squad training before the Six Nations and Autumn series games.


Relevant provisions of the RSA will be monitored and managed through the Professional Regional Game Board which will be chaired by the High Court Judge, Sir Wyn Williams. The chairman of the PRGB holds a casting vote on mutually agreed issues of interest with the exception of certain reserved WRU matters.


Simon Thomas has followed this story from the beginning for us. What will he do now?





We’ve just caught up with WRU chief Roger Lewis to put the key questions to him following this evening’s announcement. Here’s what he had to say…












There’s lots of chat going on over on our Twitter account.


Head over there and let us know what you’re thinking!


A common thread seems to be that people are happy about the return of the ‘A’ team.





One of the key details from the new agreement…



  • An annual pot of £3.3m a year to be set aside to fund dual contracts, with the WRU contributing 60 per cent – about £2m – and the regions 40 per cent.











Bristol’s Ryan Jones is one of the first players to tweet about the agreement..





And we’ll leave it there for tonight folks.


Well it’s finally happened, an agreement has been reached between the Welsh Rugby Union and the regions.


Our attentions now turn to the season, which incidentally kicks off next weekend!


 



Welsh rugby peace deal Live: Updates and reaction as WRU and regions reach ...

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