Welsh Rugby Union director of rugby and elite performance Dave Reddin has revealed that a 'rugby summit' involving all of Welsh rugby's stakeholders would start the negotiation process to cut a professional team. Speaking publicly for the first time since the end of the Six Nations in March, Reddin insisted that the WRU had not been put off by recent backlash, despite a concerted effort by a group of outspoken critics like Hayley Parsons and Jonathan 'Jiffy' Davies.
Brutal economics
"I'm going to go back to the brutal economics of it all," he told the BBC at half-time of Wales' 50-19 win over South Africa at the Arms Park on Friday. "I'm facing into stuff that hasn't been dealt with for a long period of time.
"We as a union already subsidise men's clubs to about 50-odd per cent of their turnover. That's more than most in the world. In order to do that across four teams and try do all the other investments in our men's pathway is impossible with the amount of money we've got."
"We can have as many teams as we want but they won't be competitive teams. That's the reality and we've got some really tough decisions to make on that."
Inherited problems
"These are problems we've inherited. They've been backing up for 10 or so years. It's a bit like having a beautiful old house that needs renovating.
"And it really does need renovating. A lot of the stuff we're having to do, our pathways, is stuff that should have been invested in that wouldn't have led to the situation we're in now."
"We've had generations of players that have carried us through. We don't have them anymore. We have to do things differently. We're also seeing the same things around the world. We heard this week about New Zealand and some of the challenges they're facing."
"It isn't a uniquely Welsh problem. I understand the pain with it, but we've got to fix it. That is the way forward. We're really committed to it, as we are to the women's game."
"There's some fantastic opportunities. We're seeing it tonight. You're seeing the potential. We want to continue investing in all important parts of the game."
Negotiation process
Reddin was then asked by BBC presenter Lauren Salter about how a decision would be reached between the Scarlets and Ospreys - with Reddin revealing his wish for a major meeting to kickstart that process.
"We've spoken to all of their representatives through the Professional Rugby Board," he said.
"We want to run a rugby summit as one activity, which means we get all our stakeholders together - and I mean all of them, the boards, their representatives, their execs - with a bunch of independents and ourselves, and just talk about the state of the game."
"Because I think one of the things we've suffered from up to this point is the distrust of information. Just get in the room and all face the facts together.
"Make that the start point of our negotiations of how we reduce the number of clubs. Because there is a reality. I don't think there's anyone in the professional game who thinks continuing the way we are is the right option."
"Everyone recognises decisions are really tough. We're seeing some really collaborative working on some of the system development work."
"People want to lean into it. I think we've just got to get a little more grown-up about the conversations."
Criticism from Davies
However, those answers didn't exactly placate former Wales centre Jonathan Davies, who was working on the BBC's coverage as a pundit.
"It's 12 months down the line and they're still on that strategy," said the two-time Lions tourist. "But we're still not clear on the path.
"That's the frustrating part for people in Welsh rugby. We want to have a plan in place that's the best for this game. We're still no clearer."
"He talks about renovating the house. There's nothing worse than sometimes having dodgy builders."
"It's a tough process they're going to have to go through. But we just want some clear pathways and answers."
Women's game investment
Reddin also reiterated the point made by the WRU's director of women's rugby, Nadine Griffiths, that investment in the women's game was not behind the cuts required to the men's game.
"The decision on the men's game is not affected by the amount of money we're spending on the women's game," he said. "We're still in the early stages of investment there.
"It is the biggest area of growth. We'd be silly not to take advantage of it. The head room is enormous. We've got to keep investing without being silly."
On getting Welsh teams into England's PWR, he added: "We're fully committed to that. We've put in an expression of interest.
"We've done that with the Celtic Challenge as our preference would be a 16-team league. We're excited about that. It tallies with the investment in Celtic Challenge, with the coaching teams, hoping to go into PWR as soon as possible."
