WRU close to unveiling “optimal solution” for future of Welsh Rugby

In the next three months, Welsh rugby could see a drastic change to its current format of four regions, as there are ongoing talks of cutting the regions down to three or two.

However, that uncertainty has been met with battle lines being drawn with the two West regions- Ospreys and Scarlets. 

This comes after only this week, the Ospreys had their planning application agreed by Swansea City Council on the redevelopment of the historic St Helen’s ground. Scarlets’ supporter groups and politicians from the area objected to this as they felt it would hinder the future of the Parc y Scarlets. 

Tierney was questioned on the matter and insisted that the WRU had not given any promises to the local council that the Ospreys would exist. She also denied any favouritism over Swansea rather than the Llanelli club side. 

“It’s more the number and principles we are going to be consulting on, not where the teams are based or which teams they should be,” said Tierney.

“We do not in that document get into, if it’s a reduction of clubs, then it is this club over that club.

“There’s so many different scenarios in this. One is you do it through consent, so through the consultation process. 

“We have to first of all, do that to see whether we can announce at that point.

“One option is we then go out to tender if we don’t get consent and clubs can’t agree amongst themselves to merge. 

“Scarlets and Ospreys have talked about a merger in the past.

“If we could get consent, we will, but if we can’t, it will be ‘this is our structure, this is the number of clubs we want, and this is the model’. 

“Then people would bid for those licences.”

After Cardiff Rugby went into administration back in April, before being taken over by the WRU, fans of the three other regions have deemed this to be a problem. But the WRU are looking for new investors for the capital city side. 

“I’m not involved in any way in Cardiff, and we have a separate group managing them,” said Tierney.

“We will shortly be naming an independent chair who will lead their response during this process.”

It’s worth mentioning that Tierney acknowledged the fact that professional rugby will likely continue in Cardiff. 

“It’s hard because we didn’t choose for Cardiff to go into administration when it did,” added Tierney.

“For lots of very factual reasons, populations, pathways, number of clubs, etc. I said this was one of the reasons we chose to take Cardiff in-house.

“So it’s hard to see a model where you don’t see rugby being played in Cardiff, but other people can challenge that.”

The National side only recently announced that Steve Tandy will take the role as head coach up until the 2027 Rugby World Cup, and he starts in September. 

The side in which the 45-year-old inherits only recently ended a torrid run of 18-Test match defeats, and Tierney remained clear when talking about why change is needed. 

“There’s no perfect solution, and we are going to have to have an honest conversation about what we are willing to trade for what outcomes, because what we are doing now isn’t working.

“So, I recognise there’s risks in that, but there’s also risks in doing what we are doing. 

“We can’t carry on doing the same things and expect different results.”