Welsh rugby"s civil war ends with £60m peace deal between WRU and the regions

This does not include those already playing abroad: Leigh Halfpenny, Jonathan

Davies, Jamie Roberts, Mike Phillips, Luke Charteris and Dan Lydiate in

France and George North, James Hook, Richard Hibbard, Paul James, Ian Evans,

Matthew Morgan, Bradley Davies, Gavin Henson, Dwayne Peel and Ryan Jones in

England. And the policy will only come into action once six of the dual

contracts have been signed. It is thought that the five prioritised after

Warburton are Jones, Faletau, Cuthbert, Jenkins and Scott Williams.

“The national dual contracts represent a radical step forward in our mutual

aim of retaining Welsh talent here in Wales,” Roger Lewis, the WRU group

chief executive, said. “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 will now receive much more than their previous core sum of £6.7 

million. “The RSA delivers £8.7 million a year to the regions guaranteed to

be spent on Welsh qualified players with a complex matrix of funding also

guaranteeing a further £3.6 million in loan facilities from the WRU

repayable during the term of the RSA,” the statement said. “Each region also

receives a one-off £500,000 payment on signature of the new RSA.”

The protracted row began long ago but it escalated after Christmas when the

regions refused to sign an extension of the existing Participation Agreement

with the WRU. The deadline was Dec 31, with the agreement running out on

June 30. On Jan 6 the WRU proposed its new RSA, which has been the subject

of negotiation, discussion, anger and, sometimes, ridicule ever since.

At the heart of the problem was that the regions felt that there was not

enough money on offer, while the WRU, mainly because of a fairly damning

report by accountants PricewaterhouseCoopers in late 2012, were unsure that

the regions, with their crippling debts and poor on-field performances, were

worth investing in.

At times both sides have been as bad as each other, and the impasse reached

its nadir when Warburton was unable to play for the Blues in a pre-season

match because of an agreement between the regions not to select any

centrally contracted players. He can now play against Leicester this

evening.

Nigel Short, the chairman of RRW, said: “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, with plenty of hard work still

to be done to ensure that the game in Wales prospers, works in partnership

and develops.”

The agreement also brings the return of a Wales A team, as well as the

transferring of the running of the regional academies from the WRU to the

regions, with £600,000 put aside per annum.

Wales will play a maximum of 13 Tests per season, with dual-contract players thought to be expected to play no more than 31 games a season. There will

also be a 13-day release period for Test players before the Six Nations and

autumn series.

There will be a maximum of six foreign players permitted at each region, along

with two so-called “time-servers” qualifying for Wales after three years

residency. Up to three players from each region will also be available for

the Wales sevens squad. Each year regional players will take part in

training camps at the WRU’s National Centre of Excellence at Hensol in the

Vale of Glamorgan.

- Mick Cleary: Welsh rugby’s peace deal is only the

start

Welsh rugby"s civil war ends with £60m peace deal between WRU and the regions