Speaking on September’s Sportin Wales podcast, guests Dillon Lewis and Gareth Anscombe spoke candidly about the effects that the Welsh Rugby Union’s restructuring proposals have had on current players.

Players like Lewis, who signed for Dragons this summer following a two-year spell at English club Harlequins, have spent the month of September taking part in the WRU’s consultation period, with the Union’s final decision on the future of the professional game set to be announced at the end of October.

“It will be remiss not to ask – has there been much chat among the players around this WRU plan, proposal and the consultation?” asked Sportin Wales podcast host Alex Cuthbert.

Lewis replied: “Obviously there has been a lot of talk amongst the players.

“Again, there is only so much of that you can control. You would’ve had it, we’ve been in God knows how many merger and crisis meetings, strikes or whatever it is over the years.

“The frustration is that this is all still going on. Ultimately all we want to concentrate on is the rugby, but there is that elephant (in the room) lingering.

“That is frustrating, as players all we want to do is concentrate on the rugby, there’s not a lot we can control at the moment so all we can do is wait and see.”

With the consultation period taking place during a Women’s World Cup and men’s preseason preparations, WRU chief executive Abi Tierney admitted that there is ‘never’ an ideal time for such a comprehensive consultation.

“I think, firstly, there’s never a perfect time for doing this, so anytime you look in the calendar, where they’re either in campaigns or they’re competing,” Tierney said.

“We started the engagement in August, and we’ve already got dates in the diary for the follow up engagements that fits around their training schedules and their games and when they’re away.”

Outside of the disruption that the consultation period may cause to the regions’ preseason preparations, the threat that one, two, or more of the teams may not exist in two years’ time must be damaging on a playing level.

Lewis, though, hopes that it can be a rallying cry for his new club.

“You’d hope it (the current situation) would galvanise everyone,” Lewis added.

“‘Let’s all get down there.’ Because if the chat is that they are going down to two regions forever, then you don’t actually know how long the Dragons will be there because it’s all up in the air.

“Hopefully it brings people down and there’s a lot of exciting things happening, a lot of new players there, a lot of positive things happening on the field. Hopefully pack the ground out and we can get it bouncing.”

For Anscombe, who has spent the last two seasons away from Welsh rugby playing in Japan and England, being away from the ‘bubble’ has been beneficial.

Gearing up for a first season for Aviron Bayonnais in the French Top 14, the Sportin Wales co-founder was candid in his assessment of the proposal models.

“To be fair, it’s quite nice being out of sight and out of mind out here,” he said.

“I think in the long-term, I don’t know if two regions is the way forward. I can’t see how that helps Wales in the long run; I think it’s most definitely going to help the two teams, whoever it is, they’ll be more competitive. But I can’t see how that’s going to produce enough talent.

“It’s not going to give them enough young blood, enough exposure to play. Post-COVID, the biggest thing I’ve seen within Wales is the fact that young players can’t play to a reasonably high standard enough. They’re not getting enough experience. Two regions in the long-term for Wales is not the way forward.”

Lewis added: “The short term doesn’t outweigh the long-term, in terms of chucking all of your best players in two teams, brilliant, good for now, but that conveyor belt of youngsters coming through.

“The biggest thing for me growing up was there was a clear path on how you make it to play professional rugby. It was a very clear path, and it was obviously down to you to get there then.

“I feel like that muddies the process quite a lot. Everyone is worried about youngsters not playing rugby at the moment. With the participation of young players in Wales dropping, I just think I don’t know how you sell that.”

Anscombe also questioned the proposal to limit each of the two new sides to just two foreign players each.

“I just think when you look back at the regions being successful, they’ve always had some good foreigners,” Anscombe said.

“It’s not only the talent that they bring, but it’s also the knock-on effect of how they are usually a little bit more experienced, they often view the game slightly differently. Having those different ideas and values is quite important to continue to improve the game. If we only have a limited number of foreigners, I don’t think that’s positive either.

“I look back to my time at Cardiff, the perks of having someone like Jarrad Hoeata, his knowledge and his expertise around the things in the game and also in value in bringing through the youngsters, particularly around that time. As much going forward when Wales were playing, those sorts of guys are your cultural leaders and they are your leaders when you’re going away.

“So it’s so much easier for the Welsh boys to step back in and not have to carry the can as much. I hope they look at it as well, because I think there’s so much value in still having some real talent from overseas come in.”

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