By Issy Ronald

After the recent transfer of George North to Northampton Saints, questions have been raised about the ability of the WRU to keep key players in Wales. Many would argue that Northampton signing North shows that it isn’t just the French who the Welsh can’t compete with but also the English clubs.

This is a huge blow for the WRU and caused the recent argument with the regions. This public argument exposed the non-existent relationship between the two unions and once again reinforced the fact that the regions don’t work.


Fans who previously supported a club such as Ebbw Vale are now being forced to drive to Llanelli to watch their teams play, a journey that would take over an hour. This causes all but the most dedicated fans to simply watch their team play on the TV, which in turn causes lost ticket revenue and less money being generated by the club. This means that the cubs have less money and cannot afford the contracts that their star players want. The loss of star players means that less people come to the matches.

If the WRU scrapped the regions instead reverted back to the original club structure, with the top 4 clubs competing in the Pro12, then potentially more fans would come to the matches.

Welsh fans are worried about the growing exodus of players to France and England. In previous seasons it was older players who were moving to France to gain a ‘pension’ but now it is the younger players, such as Jamie Roberts, Dan Lydiate and George North, who have been lured by the money.

The WRU simply don’t have the money to compete with French and English clubs so instead I believe that they should introduce a policy like England have- no foreign based players will be picked for the national team. This would probably stop the younger players leaving Wales who have aspirations to play for Wales.

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