Peace for our time!

There was something vaguely reminiscent of Neville Chamberlain as he returned from Munich in 1938 and proclaimed “Peace for our time” when Roger Lewis proudly announced that the WRU and Welsh Regional Rugby had finally reached an agreement. Mr Chamberlain was proved very wrong not long afterwards so let’s hope that Mr Lewis is more fortunate.

On the face of it, it is great news for Welsh rugby but, why oh why, has it taken so long? The final outcome seems to me exactly what was being proposed a year or more ago. In the mean time, a bevy of our best talent has decamped to France and England. Maybe the delaying tactics were all a cunning plan to let someone else pick up the tab for our most valuable players. We then have just enough money to make up the wages for the next tranche. ‘Gatland’s Law” has suddenly re-emerged after being seemingly forgotten when it suited the WRU but it still seems it may not be implemented in special cases.

I guess it is likely that we can expect the Welsh squad to be made up of three factions: the big wage earners playing in France and England, the players with their pay topped up by the WRU and the rest. Let us hope that this does not prove too divisive. I wonder if the door is open for those players who have gone to play abroad to return and get a WRU contract or have they burned their boats?  I also thought that the WRU funded players would be more evenly spread amongst the regions than the split suggested by the media.

I really hope that this is a lasting peace and we can move forward but this is Welsh rugby remember.

My worry now is that the WRU will turn their attention back to disorganising club rugby yet again.