The Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) have said that they will not negotiate for player release with England’s Premier Rugby Limited but only with England’s Rugby Football Union. This applies to Welsh internationals playing for Premiership clubs in England.
rugby365
Four players who could be concerned are Gavin Henson, who ended his 21-month break from rugby on Boxing Day, Andy Powell (London Wasps), Dwayne Peel (Sale Sharks) and Nicky Robinson (Gloucester).
Such players are often caught in the notorious “club versus country” rows.
Regional Rugby Wales, the umbrella organisation which represents the four Welsh regions, signed a five-year deal with the WRU in September 2009.
The deal gave the four regions £6-million per year between them, with a player-release clause allowing Wales coach Warren Gatland to call up Welsh players 13 days before Test matches.
The Rugby Football Union in England struck a similar deal with their Premiership clubs and paid Premier Rugby around £110m over eight years up to June 2016 to ensure beneficial player-access rights.
Premier Rugby – the umbrella organisation for the Aviva Premiership clubs – has no such deal with the WRU and ruled that no international players contracted to English clubs would be released for World Cup duty until August 4.
That would seriously hamper Gatland’s World Cup build-up as Wales have warm-up home and away games with England, on August 6 and 13.
But Edward Griffiths, the CEO of Saracens, who suggested that Wales could make a deal with Premier Rugby, said of Henson: “I have spoken to Warren Gatland and we are keen for Gavin to play for Wales and for him to fulfil his potential as a rugby player.
“From Saracens’ point of view we are eager that our players play international rugby.
“We don’t want to hold any player back and have no self-interest in that regard and our interest is perfectly aligned with our players.
“Players want to play for their countries, which is perfectly natural, and we are happy to do everything we can to make that happen.”
Responding to Griffiths’s comments, a WRU spokesman said: “Our position hasn’t changed on this matter.
“If Warren has spoken to people at Saracens then it is to see how Gavin is faring on his return to rugby.
“But we will not discuss player-release issues with PRL. We will only do that with the RFU.”
Premier Rugby had ruled it would not allow its clubs to release players based in England until 35 days before the World Cup, acting on International Rugby Board regulations.
Premier Rugby, like France’s Top 14 clubs, had claimed they would adhere to IRB Regulation 9, which states: “The Rugby World Cup assembly period begins 35 days prior to the start of the tournament, during which warm-up matches may be played.”
Regulation 9 also covers the November international window, allowing for only three matches to be played during that month. But Wales traditionally have four Test matches during the autumn Test window.
Back in October, Mark McCafferty, Premier Rugby’s Chief Executive, admitted he was bemused by the WRU’s hard-line stance over the issue and their utter refusal to negotiate.
“I’m just really disappointed that Roger Lewis has said he won’t talk to us,” McCafferty said on October 19.
“We are having constructive discussions with a couple of other unions and I’m sure this is not insurmountable.
“We are not going to stop any player preparing properly for his country for a World Cup.”
But Lewis, speaking in October, had ruled out any deal, financial or otherwise, and claimed he would discuss player access only with his counterparts at the RFU.
“We’ll certainly speak to the Rugby Football Union but we’re not going to negotiate on this,” he said.
“We’re not going to be held to ransom… those days are well behind us in Wales.
“We have proper agreements in place and we behave honourably so, no, we’re not going to negotiate.”