Welsh clubs urged: Join Heineken breakaway

The four Welsh regions are being invited to break Celtic ranks and join the Anglo-French plan for a new Europe.
The move aimed at getting the Blues, Ospreys, Scarlets and Dragons on board comes from an English power-broker who has invested more money in his club than any other owner, Saracens chairman Nigel Wray.
“My message to the Welsh teams is simple – ‘Join the competition’. At the end of the day, you have to have guts. They would be a hell of a lot better off than they are now,” Wray told The Rugby Paper.
“It’s crucial to our future that the clubs run our own European competition.   We want to run it and run it better.     I’ve thought for a long time, and this is a personal opinion, that we should have the four Welsh teams in the Aviva Premiership.
“That would make it a fantastic tournament. The customer is king and he wants to see big games.   I can’t speak for the Welsh but I’d be greatly surprised if they wouldn’t jump at the chance of playing the English clubs more often.”
Wray is adamant that Premier Rugby Ltd will continue with plans for a streamlined 20-club European Cup underpinned by a bigger secondary competition despite objections from the governing body, the IRB.
French Rugby Federation president Pierre Camou has already made it clear he will forbid the country’s Top14 clubs to enter into any new cross-border competition.   The RFU are likely to refer the matter to the IRB.
Asked about how the English clubs would respond to an official ban, Wray said: “I think it’s against competition law. It would be pretty stupid if we are unable to progress our business like anyone else.    We are in the 21st century, aren’t we?
“We have this lark about getting someone else’s permission. What other business is there in the world where you are not allowed to run it as we want to run the European Cup?
“You cannot have it run by Unions who have no interest in the financial side of your business. They should want to have solvent clubs running a vibrant European competition.
“We don’t want the Unions  controlling it. We cannot allow someone else to run our business. We want to run it and run it better.
“We have no alternative but to leave the competition as it stands because we, the English and French, are constantly outvoted. We have to create a better competition for ourselves and we would like the Irish, Scottish and Welsh to be in it.
“The English and French clubs would be crazy to turn back and play in the old competition. You have to have control of your own destiny.”
The Welsh regions desperately need to generate more cash if they are to prevent more of their Grand Slam superstars leaving.
In the end, the Celtic Unions may be forced to compromise rather than preside over the doomsday scenario of losing almost £25m a year in revenue from a European implosion.
PETER JACKSON