Chair today gone tomorrow

So David Pickering has been ousted as Chairman of the WRU. I guess he’s paid the penalty for the mishandling of the acrimonious and lengthy row between the WRU and the Regions. He has certainly not been a friend to Pontypool during his tenure and it is hoped that his successor thinks a little more about grass roots rugby than Messrs Pickering and Lewis have.

On the plus side, Pickering was in position for the best part of a decade during which the Welsh National team have been the strongest in the Northern Hemisphere. The tight knit and well drilled squad with the combination of a strong and reliable forwards and try scoring backs won three grand slams during his tenure. The Northern hemisphere giants England and France seemed to become obsessed with the Heineken Cup and their clubs built strong squads bristling with recruits from all over the world, This was to the detriment of their national teams and Wales took full advantage.

Even though the Welsh ruled the roost in Europe they were singularly unsuccessful against the big three Southern Hemisphere teams although they pushed Australia and South Africa to the limit a number of times.

The Welsh team were arguably at its best during the 2011 World Cup. The draw for quarter and semi finals opened up for them but alas the infamous Warburton red card in the semi final against France ultimately did for them. You genuinely thought that with the momentum that Wales had built up we could have taken an edgy New Zealand team in the final

On the flipside, Welsh regional rugby seriously underperformed as the Welsh benefactors’ pockets were not deep enough to compete for the kind of imports needed to be competitive on the European stage. The French and English clubs fought for higher and higher profile players and started to target the Welsh stars. This has led to an exodus of a stream of our best players and left the regions even less competitive.

The money that the WRU used to pay off the debt on the Millennium Stadium plus the money for regional rugby meant that there was precious little left for the clubs in Wales and there is no doubt that grass roots rugby in Wales has suffered. Now, even more money will be spent on the top players with the introduction of central contracts. This means even less available in the lower echelons of the game.

They say that success breeds success but unfortunately this does not seem to be true in Wales where, despite a strong and competitive national team, the rest of the pyramid continues to struggle. You can’t help feeling that, somewhere along the line, that the game in Wales has missed a golden opportunity. Let us hope that, with fresh blood on the board, we can forget the acrimony of the past and build something for the future. More of the same clearly won’t do.