Top English clubs would ‘welcome’ Welsh tie-up

A senior Welsh official last night claimed that some English clubs would welcome reviving Anglo-Welsh competition – and even the idea of  Wales’ four regional clubs joining the Aviva Premiership.
“There have been a couple of meetings,” the official said. “At this stage it’s a matter of exploring the possibilities.   The English clubs seem relatively warm on the idea otherwise we wouldn’t be having a chat with them.”
The revelation that senior Welsh officials have met the Premiership‘s chief executive Mark McCafferty underlines the deteriorating relationship between the WRU and their four fully professional teams – Cardiff Blues, Newport Gwent Dragons, Ospreys and Scarlets.
McCafferty gave confirmation yesterday of his meeting with his Welsh counterpart Stuart Gallacher, chief executive of Regional Rugby Wales, and Blues’ chief executive Richard Holland.  It took place in Cardiff in the week following the wreckage of England’s Grand Slam chariot at the Millennium Stadium.
The Welsh official added: “We are at the stage of trying to find out whether anything would fit.  We are looking at a number of different ideas to recreate competition with the English clubs. There’s no doubt it would be brilliant if it happened.  Never say never.”
McCafferty told The Rugby Paper: “It’s certainly true I met with Stuart and Richard.  People may think it’s (Welsh involvement in the Aviva Premiership) a great idea especially with Wales having that long historic rivalry with English clubs but it’s pretty unlikely. The practical difficulties are pretty obvious.”
McCafferty added: “There was a pretty broad agenda. We are conscious of the fact that the European agreement finishes at the end of next season.
“The main focus of the discussions was around Europe, the LV=Cup and the possibilities of Wales joining up in Sevens‘ competitions.
“Europe only has one season left.   We all have to figure out what happens after next year which is why we are talking to a number of partners.
“The meetings with ERC (European Rugby Cup) have been hugely unsuccessful.
“The Welsh regions and the French clubs are natural allies as far as we are concerned.”
Gallacher, one of British rugby’s most experienced legislators at domestic and European level, is all too aware of the barriers preventing Welsh rugby teams doing what the country’s football teams did long ago and join the English League.
“Whether we could ever join the Aviva Premiership is probably a step too far,’ he  told The Back Page on BBC Radio Wales.
“I’m not saying I wouldn’t welcome it. It’s a product you can get some revenue out of.
“However, there are massive hurdles to be cleared before you get a green light.   Under the terms of the IRB it would not be sanctioned.
“You would therefore have to break away and play beyond the control of your own Union.
“We have to work within our Union for the benefit of the game.”
The last breakaway took place in 1998, the rebel season when Cardiff and Swansea defied the WRU to join the English League for a series of friendly matches.
The first fixture, Cardiff against Saracens, drew a crowd of 10,000 – more than the aggregate attendance in the entire Welsh Premiership the previous week.
The defiance of their two biggest city clubs followed the WRU’s rejection of an offer from the RFU providing room for five Welsh clubs in the English League.
Negotiations collapsed when Wales insisted that their Welsh Premiership, then consisting of nine clubs, had to be accommodated.
The nine – Cardiff, Swansea, Bridgend, Llanelli, Pontypridd, Ebbw Vale, Neath, Newport and Caerphilly – joined the Celtic League in 2001.
Two years later, they were compressed into four regions after a series of shotgun weddings like the one which turned Swansea and Neath into the Ospreys.
Since then, the regions have hit hard times. Despite providing the players responsible for winning three Welsh Grand Slams and four Six Nations titles, they have been forced into drastic economy measures.
All four regions met yesterday in a RaboDirect Pro 12 double-header at the Millennium Stadium, an event billed, ironically, as ‘Judgement Day.’
After walloping England a fortnight ago, some in the English game will be tempted to interpret the Anglo- Welsh talks as a classic case of if-you-can’t-beat-them, then join them.
PETER JACKSON