Welsh rugby has lurched from crisis to crisis in recent times
16:51, 02 Jul 2026Updated 16:58, 02 Jul 2026
WRU Chief Executive Abi Tierney and Dave Reddin, Director of Rugby and Elite Performance
Over the last three years, Welsh rugby has seen enough drama to fill an entire series of EastEnders.
Just when it appeared the noise might finally be subsiding after another tumultuous year, fresh unrest emerged. This time it centred on the Wales squad’s dissatisfaction with the match fees on offer for the Nations Championship.
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The players took the understandable decision to boycott their scheduled media commitments to meet senior Welsh Rugby Union officials.
In the end, a crisis was averted and Wales will take the field against Fiji at Cardiff City Stadium this Saturday. But once again Welsh rugby has found itself in the headlines for the wrong reasons.
It has also made an already difficult task even harder for Steve Tandy.
When Abi Tierney took over as CEO two and a half years ago, she correctly identified one of the WRU’s biggest challenges: its relationship with the professional clubs. Sadly, that relationship has not improved.
Richard Collier-Keywood himself acknowledged before his departure that this remained the case.
There is simply too much friction within Welsh rugby. From one key stakeholder to another, relationships have become strained to the point where it is almost impossible for the game to thrive.
The latest disagreement with the players should not be viewed in isolation because it is a direct consequence of the deteriorating relationship between the WRU and the professional clubs.
The two cannot be separated because the players are employed by those clubs. Whatever affects the clubs inevitably affects the players.
Having recognised that relationship management was its biggest challenge, the WRU has done little to change the situation.
Initially there was optimism. Warm words were exchanged and some even described Tierney as “a breath of fresh air”.
Those sentiments proved short-lived. Before long the language had changed to accusations that she was “out of her depth”.
The WRU’s handling of Warren Gatland’s departure in the middle of the Six Nations only reinforced that perception.
How did the relationship reach this point?
The four professional clubs have faced significant financial pressures. They have had little choice but to reduce squad sizes and cut player contracts.
Unsurprisingly, neither the clubs nor the players were happy as wages fell across the professional game.
At the same time, the WRU left the four clubs carrying the burden of Covid loans after borrowing money because it could no longer meet its payments to the clubs for providing players.
Negotiations over the Professional Rugby Agreement continued, but little, if any, meaningful change was made to the drafts originally prepared under Steve Phillips before his departure as CEO.
Instead, the WRU sought greater control, including over the employment of players and coaches. Relationships deteriorated further.
The coup de grâce came when the WRU announced its intention to reduce the number of professional teams from four to three. A year on, they still haven’t got a clue how to achieve their aim.
The implications for clubs, players and supporters have been enormous. Trust, already fragile, reached its lowest point.
Against that backdrop, the recent disagreement over international match fees should surprise no one. It is simply the latest manifestation of the players’ and clubs’ lack of trust and confidence in the governing body.
The WRU now wants to move forward with the centralisation of the academy system, a proposal that has not been well received by influential figures within the four professional clubs.
Without significant changes to the PRA, relationships are unlikely to improve. And while the sword of Damocles continues to hang over the regions and their players, there is little prospect of confidence in the governing body being restored.
The WRU could have chosen a very different approach at the beginning of 2024.
It could have reduced its own costs immediately to reflect the sacrifices already being made by the regions, demonstrating that everyone was sharing the burden together.
It could have worked alongside the clubs to reduce costs collectively through procurement of utilities, travel, kit and other shared services.
It could have reshaped the Professional Rugby Agreement into one based not on control but on mutual respect, openness, transparency and genuine collaboration.
And it could have agreed a long-term strategic approach that reinvested those savings into strengthening the player pathway.
Instead, the WRU has made the task of fixing Welsh rugby considerably harder because it has failed to build strong relationships with the clubs, the players and the supporters.
Had it adopted that collaborative approach in 2024, there would almost certainly be greater trust and confidence in the governing body today.
Difficult decisions are always easier to implement when people believe they are being made for the good of the game. At present, too many people simply do not believe that is the case.
Too many have lost confidence that those making the decisions know how to deliver the change Welsh rugby needs.
The WRU has chosen confrontation rather than consolidation.
There is an obvious parallel with parenting. Parents can attempt to control every aspect of a child’s life, or they can support, guide and advise.
The former rarely succeeds and almost always creates conflict. The latter builds trust.
Almost everyone accepts that the professional game in Wales requires radical reform. Equally it is plainly obvious based on results and the finances that in the long term, the WRU needs to go down to three if not two professional teams.
The issue is not that the WRU wants to pursue radical change but how it has gone about it.
The search for a new chair provides an opportunity to reset the culture.
Whoever the successful candidate is must recognise that while Wales may not currently have the players or the financial resources to sustain four strong professional teams, reducing the number of teams cannot be viewed as a silver bullet.
The WRU must also look at itself.
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Maintaining the status quo is no longer an option because the current model is no longer fit for purpose. But equally, the governing body must demonstrate that it has the right people, the right culture and the right leadership to carry the game through the changes that lie ahead.
That requires the WRU to look as critically at itself as it does at the professional game. Its own structures, operating costs and ways of working should be subject to the same scrutiny and reform it expects of others.
Today, the WRU has lost the trust and goodwill of almost every key stakeholder. Until those relationships are rebuilt, every major reform, however necessary, will be viewed with suspicion rather than support. It makes it impossible to get anywhere.
Since the pandemic, the WRU has lurched from one crisis to the next: allegations of sexism and misogyny, followed by a financial crisis that saw the union lose more than £30 million over three years. Against that backdrop, rebuilding credibility is no longer desirable; it is essential.
Yet the WRU thinks it should control more of the professional game when it has proved unable to control itself.
The majority of negotiations it has undertaken with key stakeholders – be it a reduction to three teams, the Wales women’s contracts and this latest issue with the men’s team – has been a disaster. Each one has taken an age and been engulfed by unnecessary drama and recrimination.
Alongside its precarious finances, this crisis of trust has become the WRU’s biggest problem.
If they cannot rebuild it, the leadership appears doomed.
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