Here’s your round-up of all the latest rugby news for Sunday, July 23.
Rugby fans hit out at ‘staggering’ WRU plans
Rugby fans have accused the Welsh Rugby Union of undermining the regional game amid its money-making stadium plans.
The WRU is in talks over hosting a Wales v Barbarians match in November and Bristol v Gloucester in December at the Principality Stadium, but both games could clash with two United Rugby Championship derbies between Cardiff and Scarlets.
The WRU will this year miss out on the revenue raised by hosting four autumn internationals, so are trying to recoup some of those funds by hosting alternative matches.
Scarlets and Cardiff are set to meet in Llanelli on November 4, the provisional date for the potential Wales v Baabaas clash.
In terms of the latter URC date, WalesOnline understands the WRU initially asked Cardiff to move their derby against the Scarlets at the Arms Park away from the designated date of December 2 to allow for the English derby to be held at the stadium next door. Cardiff refused and are now in negotiations with the governing body about staging the first URC and Premiership double-header at the Principality Stadium.
Now, Cardiff supporters have criticised the proposals as a “staggering” short-term fix which “devalues” the regional game.
In a letter to new WRU chair Richard Collier-Keywood, the CF10 Rugby Trust said it “could not fathom” why the WRU would look to host an international match on the same day as a regional derby.
“We knew 2023-4 was not going to be an easy season with the inevitable [financial] cuts. What we were not prepared for was the continuing undermining of the four professional clubs by the WRU,” the letter reads.
“The optics of promoting a clash from a rival league at our national ground whilst simultaneously cutting the payments to our own professional teams to the bone is, quite frankly, staggering. It creates, or perhaps confirms, the impression that our governing body sees the professional game below Team Wales as expendable.”
The letter from supporters, signed by the trust’s chair Lynn Glaister, stressed how the regions now only have 11 guaranteed home league and European games a season to generate revenue.
“The WRU expect the four Welsh teams to drive up their own matchday and sponsorship revenue. Yet the WRU seem to have already forgotten about this in the name of short-term thinking,” she said. “It seems there is no wider strategy for the Welsh pro game beyond finding new ways to squeeze every last drop of income from the Principality Stadium, regardless of the long-term costs to the game as a whole.”
A period of austerity will hit Welsh rugby next season, with funding to each region cut by £2m – from £7.2m to £5.2m – next term before dropping further to £4.5m for the 2024-25 campaign.
It comes as interim WRU chief executive Nigel Walker says the game needs to explore more revenue opportunities.
“We’ve got to think about doing things differently,” he said. “What we aren’t going to do is be reckless, we aren’t going to introduce things which will destroy the fabric of Welsh rugby but we do need to think of ways of raising revenues.”
The 2023/24 URC season kicks off in late October due to the World Cup being staged in France this autumn.
Wallabies ‘massive underdogs’
Australia head coach Eddie Jones says his side are underdogs for next weekend’s Rugby Championship and Bledisloe Cup clash with New Zealand.
The Wallabies take on the All Blacks having lost their opening two games under the former England boss, and Jones admits many will be writing off his side’s chances this time around.
Asked if he would be embracing the underdogs’ tag, he said: “Well, in this situation, we need to because we are the underdogs. But generally speaking, we want to be a team that can cope with any sort of tag that gets put on us, whether it be favourites or underdogs.
“You just don’t want to be a team that only fronts up when you’re underdogs, but you know, in this situation this week, we’re massive underdogs and that creates an opportunity. We know if we can put pressure on the team that’s labelled as red hot favourites, then sometimes that pressure can turn into increased pressure on them and stress within the team, and that’s our aim.”
Fiji star quits ahead of World Cup
Fiji coach Simon Raiwalui has confirmed that Peceli Yato has quit the squad and won’t feature at the upcoming World Cup in France.
A report on FBC News, the Fijian Broadcasting Corporation, said: “The Fiji Water Flying Fijians will be going to the Rugby World Cup without one of their key and senior players Peceli Yato. Coach Simon Raiwalui has confirmed that Yato removed himself from the camp earlier this week.
“The Nadroga man trained with the team at the Sigatoka sand dunes last weekend and was part of their training session on Monday. Raiwalui says Yato left the squad on his own accord. He adds they had a situation where Yato chose to leave the camp and they respect his decision.
“The national coach adds Yato led from the front in their past three weeks together. Raiwalui says at the moment no new players will be brought in to replace Yato.”
