Jamie Roberts worked as a pundit for ITV in the England v Wales coverage(Image: ITV)
Wales legend Jamie Roberts was asked about the current Ospreys situation ahead of the England v Wales match on Saturday. Steve Tandy’s Six Nations campaign got off to a dreadful start in London with a 48-7 thumping at the hands of England.
Off the field, tensions are building in Welsh regional rugby with the WRU’s plans to reduce the number of professional teams in Wales to three by the 2027/2028 season. Ospreys are currently seen as the most at-risk region because their owners, Y11, have been given a 60-day exclusivity period to purchase Cardiff Rugby. This means that Ospreys could cease to exist.
Roberts is a non-executive board member for the WRU and involved in the decision-making process and was asked about the governing body’s decision to cut the number of regions. The iconic centre has always been open and honest in his analysis of the decision and again provided rugby fans with an explanation for the call.
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“I’ll try and simplify what is quite a complex process and chain of events,” began Roberts. “Of course, the performance problem, the financial problem facing the game in Wales. There was a big consultation with a lot of stakeholders in the game in Wales and a lot of information came back to the board and we made the best decision.
“We love the game in Wales and want to see it thrive.
“We want to see Welsh club sides winning and the national side winning again and we made the decision in the best interest of the game in Wales to go to three teams. Now, there’s complexities around that about how you get there and we’ve seen Cardiff go into administration and more recently the owners of the Ospreys being the best bidder for Cardiff again and it’s challenging for fans.
“There’s a lot of uncertainty as well but be assured as a board of directors we’re making the best decision possible for the best interest of the game in Wales medium to long term.”
Host Mark Pougatch then turned the question to Biggar, saying: “Dan, we should mention that Ospreys, for whom you played, based in Swansea, second biggest city in Wales, the most successful region in the last 20 years is at the moment the region that’s going to be cut. The second biggest city in Wales not having a team, that sounds extremely drastic.”
“It does sound extremely drastic but Wales are in that position where they can’t afford to not make big calls with the way things have gone,” answered Biggar, who stressed that it was the lack of transparency that was frustrating the most.
“The problem that’s been brewing in Wales is not so much the on-field difficulties because I think the public accept that this is a young team, a new coaching group and it’s going to take a bit of time. Wales have been poor on the pitch before, they’ll be poor on the pitch again afterwards, no doubt about that.
“But it’s the lack of transparency and the lack of trust in people at the minute because 12 months ago there was enough money for four teams, then it was three plus one, then it was two, now it’s three.
“At some point I think that’s where the public and the biggest stakeholders in the game, the fans, are getting really frustrated is that, who can they trust, who can they listen to and are they just going to make their own assumptions if nobody comes out and says it? And I think that’s the biggest frustration is that the lack of empathy and the lack of transparency in Wales has been coming through.”
Wales face France in Cardiff on Sunday in an incredibly tough task for Steve Tandy’s team. France physically dominated Ireland, who won the tournament two years ago, so will come to the Welsh capital full of confidence.
