Jamie Roberts to leave Blues & join Racing Metro

First topic message reminder :

Wales and Lions star Jamie Roberts will leave Cardiff Blues in the summer to join French side Racing Metro.

Roberts, 25, had been expected to join the exodus of Wales internationals and the Blues have confirmed that he will be joining the wealthy Paris club at the end of the season.

He joins the likes of Gethin Jenkins, Mike Phillips, James Hook and Luke Charteris in plying their trade across the channnel.

Blues chief executive Richard Holland said they made a bumper offer - by the club's standards - to Roberts to stay, but admitted they do not have the financial clout of the French Top 14 sides.

"The offer we made to Jamie was an extremely attractive one and would have seen him become certainly the highest paid player in the Blues squad, and arguably in the UK," said Holland.

"As a business, we simply don't have the resource to compete with the offers that Jamie has received.

"Naturally we are disappointed that Jamie has decided to leave the region, but we wish him the best of luck with his career."

Blues chairman Peter Thomas could not hide his disappointment at Roberts' departure and warned that unless the WRU helps pay the wages of Wales stars, more will leave.

"We have invested a lot of time, money and effort developing Jamie as a rugby player from an early age after identifying him as a star of the future," he said.

"We have stuck by him through thick and thin and supported him during last season when he only completed two matches for the Blues because of his knee injury and international duties, playing 15 matches for Wales.

"It is impossible for the Welsh regions to compete with the kind of money that is on offer from other clubs in other countries.

"The time has come that the Welsh benefactors should not be responsible for funding the professional game."



Not a massive surprise but obviously the WRU refused to budge on supplementing his wages.

I actually think the regions are fairly well funded. Better than most English sides.

Think WRU give them about £3.5 million a year (WRU funding plus ERC and TV money) and run the academies meaning the regions have to raise the rest themselves,

The regions haveraise enough to pay whatever it takes to pay for coaches, staff admin etc etc. and then an additional £2 million to make English wage cap.

To me this seams reasonable to raise from gates, merchandise, sponsorship etc.

The RFU provide (I think) £110M to the premiership clubs for 8 years. So that's about £13.75M per year or around £1.1M per club per year. Clubs that give more players to the EPS get slightly more but it's smoothed a bit.

I take it that the £1.1 million does not include prem TV money (but does include ERC money)

last TV deal was £53 million over 3 years, which is about £1.1 million average per club, roughly as team will be relegated and some will get more for finishing higher etc etc

That makes about £2.2 million for an English club the rest they raise themselves, Welsh teams get £3.5 million and thier acamadies paid for and raise the rest themselves.

How are the Welsh regions shouing out they are poor, compared to the English teams?

The English teams are mostly run by rich backer. The unsustainable nature of that is why Wales is looking to change. We don't want the English system thanks

George Carlin wrote:The report makes it sound like it was all about money and nothing else, which I can't believe is true. The Blues are a team currently rebuilding and whilst they were clear that they wanted to build a backline around Roberts, at 25 you have to figure that you are at the peak of your powers and the time to change and give yourself a new challenge is right now.

He's a gent and a smart chap, so good luck to him.

Yeah, there is that. But why Racing Metro? They are a club that continually threatens to achieve something without ever looking really good. Lot of instability in the coaching set-up over the past few years. A very poor record in the Heineken Cup thus far.

Still, the Blues are a basket case. I feel for their fans. This is just like when we lost Roger Wilson and Tommy Bowe four seasons ago. Not only is the team facing a bleak and empty future, the best players are leaving.

Kingshu wrote:I take it that the £1.1 million does not include prem TV money (but does include ERC money)

last TV deal was £53 million over 3 years, which is about £1.1 million average per club, roughly as team will be relegated and some will get more for finishing higher etc etc

That makes about £2.2 million for an English club the rest they raise themselves, Welsh teams get £3.5 million and thier acamadies paid for and raise the rest themselves.

How are the Welsh regions shouing out they are poor, compared to the English teams?

Yes you're right. Basically the £1.1M per club is the equivalent to the £6.2M the regions are getting (£1.6M per region). Premiership sponsorship and tv rights and possibly the ERC money is given straight to the clubs.

So why are the Dragons not able to spend over £2m on wages. They say they can't afford it according to Darren Edwards?

There must be some other explanation. I'm pretty sure the TV money goes to the WRU, but is it actually dished out back to the regions?

Can someone explain or guess why, according to some the Dragons get £3.5m yet can't afford half of that for the players wages?

Dragons use this £3.5 million to cover everything not just wages.

But still I think with £3.5 million a year plus you acamady paid for, you should be able to raise enough through gates, sponsor ship merchandise etc to cover the cost of every else and leave the £3.5 million for wages.

However it looks like the running costs of Dragons cost the money raised through gates, sponsorship merchandise plus £1million more.

If Dragons can cut down the running costs they would be able to afford more on players.

Griff wrote:So why are the Dragons not able to spend over £2m on wages. They say they can't afford it according to Darren Edwards?

There must be some other explanation. I'm pretty sure the TV money goes to the WRU, but is it actually dished out back to the regions?

Can someone explain or guess why, according to some the Dragons get £3.5m yet can't afford half of that for the players wages?

If you google "WRU annual report 2012" you can get to their page with all their financial reports. In there is says they give the regions £15.1M for 2012 and £15.0M for 2011. So, if it's an even split it'll be £3.8M per year for the Dragons from the WRU. But this includes TV money, ERC money, league sponsorship money, etc. The Dragons would supplement this with ticket sales, junk sales (shirts and that), club sponsorship.

Most of Argentina's players are France based.

From a 'what's best for the national team' point of view, maybe Saturday's game will be a good guide as to whether a 'player exodus' could also work in our favour if it continues (as looks likely) here.

I think Argentina would benefit if they could have their players at home,

When at home its easier to watch them play, imagine how much travelling the coach must do to watch them live.

But you also get to get them together to bond and train more often together, longer training get togethers are going to increase the chances for success. The internation windows are a minimum, they longer you can have the squad together the better you can coach them and they get used to playing with each other the better. WRU, IRFU, SA, NZ and AUS all try to maximise national team times together.

HammerofThunor wrote:

Griff wrote:So why are the Dragons not able to spend over £2m on wages. They say they can't afford it according to Darren Edwards?

There must be some other explanation. I'm pretty sure the TV money goes to the WRU, but is it actually dished out back to the regions?

Can someone explain or guess why, according to some the Dragons get £3.5m yet can't afford half of that for the players wages?

If you google "WRU annual report 2012" you can get to their page with all their financial reports. In there is says they give the regions £15.1M for 2012 and £15.0M for 2011. So, if it's an even split it'll be £3.8M per year for the Dragons from the WRU. But this includes TV money, ERC money, league sponsorship money, etc. The Dragons would supplement this with ticket sales, junk sales (shirts and that), club sponsorship.

I wonder if it includes money for the running of the academy, coaching staff, etc? I'm just trying to figure out how we're so skint if we're getting £3.5m???

Does this mean anything to anyone? Just from a Google search:

https://www.duedil.com/company/04959513/dragons-rugby-limited/financials

The 'Vitals' point out correctly that this is a joint ownership between Newport Rugby Ltd and the WRU. Last year our creditors were £2,654,924. I'm guessing that's from the WRU? It shows our liabilities to be exactly the same. I'm not a business person so not sure about some of the things. Can anyone explain, and does it look healthy? Does it look right? It's from May 2011 as well so going back a bit.

Someone told me yesterday that Andy Tuilagi's on £110,000 a year. But also that he'll be on his way after this season.

£110,000 and hands like feet. No wonder we're in trouble.

Tell me about it. How much is that per knock on?

Although in his defence, a) he's been pretty good this season, and b) it's not his fault we're paying him such a ridiculous amount.

Griff wrote:£110,000 and hands like feet. No wonder we're in trouble.

Espscially when over the summer you lost some front row players who could earn more as sparkies (whats that around £15k-£30k?)

I take it you're refering to Rhys Buckley? A front row player who could earn more as an electrical engineer (£40,000+), according to him.

Essentially he was a 4th choice hooker who wanted loads of money like the 1st choice players. He couldn't even get a game with Pontypool in the end beacuse there were better players in front of him there. Sorry pal, but you're not worth the money you're asking for.

Why should we pay them loads just because they play in the front row, scarletspiderman?

He's now at Doncaster Knights...

Roberts is one of the world'd best international centres, but his commitment to his region has been a little suspect to say the least. He hardly ever plays for the Blues, and I've actually heard rumours through friends in the Cardiff medical world that he's been known to overplay injury recovery times in order to make sure he'll be available for Wales big matches. I'm not saying anyone's glad he's going, but I think the Blues supporters would be far more upset if Halfpenny or Cuthbert were off - as they always seem to give 100% at regional level. The exodus continues...

Well JamRo's contract runs its course at the end of this season, so I can't say I'm surprised. It seems many players are choosing France as a way of getting a tidy little financial nest egg. Good luck to him.

wales606 wrote:He played 2 matches for us last year, that means he got paid over £100k per match!

It would be nice to see a bit of loyalty from a Blues raised player but what do you expect from a player who hasn't performed for his regions since he became the Lions golden boy in 2009.

The money can certainly be better spend elsewhere on players who perform like Cuthbert and Halfpenny. Perhaps we can bring in someone who plays better for a quarter of the price, like Adam Warren at the Scarlets perhaps or a quality NWQ

Your comments you made mirror my thoughts, no loyalty considering the few games he has played, he will have to earn his money now, his performances for the blues has been p*ss poor last year and so far this year. The blues should learn from this experience and include a minimum number of games per season or claw back a percentage of the salary.

I thought he had to get 2 years of training as part of his qualifications, maybe his place in college should have gone to someone more deserving and wants to be a doctor.

As far as I am aware, the Blues junior academies have been doing well for the past two years. There was a report on the WRU FB today that they had beaten Leicester Tigers 44-28, and it is well known that the Tigers have the best academy around year in, year out (or one of the best anyway). So hopefully the future is bright down the Blues!

BTW, fasttrack Cory Allen and Owen Williams into the team. There's your new centre partnership, probably better than Hewitt/Evans.

There's some naivety and a lot of heads in sand posters here. This talent drain is very bad for rugby in Wales. The regions can't solve it on their own and the WRU don't appear to have the vision or courage to work with the regions to solve it.

Wales has stumbled through the professional era so far - benefiting from the improvement in the player pool to win a few slams but failing to appreciate that long term success requires a robust professional structure, well funded and well supported. It's not an exaggeration to say that professional rugby is in a tail spin and if we can't maintain strong, competitive regions, eventually both the national side and grass roots rugby will wither. In sport, professional businesses that can't compete don't survive.

Completely agree with Offload. 100%. Without top players, who will help develop the youngsters? The regions have gone backwards massively. Three of the regions have rookie coaches now. The regions can't compete in Europe and how Scrum V get excited about The Rabies league is getting funnier by the week. While all the AI's go on, the regions play in the LV! What is the point in this competition????
Attendances have dropped for the regions, but Grand slammers Wales will sell-out for most of the AI's, but it was just 2 years ago when Wales couldn't sell out against SA and Australia, but on the back of another grand slam, Roger Lewis and his cronies are rubbing their hands! Wales have hardly taken over northern hemisphere rugby. Grand slam in 08, 4th, 4th, 4th, grand slam.
On Roberts leaving. You can't blame him. When Faletau and Lydiate depart the dragons, they go with my blessing, because the Dragons are holding you back!!
As usual it's too little too late from the WRU!

Two sensible posts above . The structure has to be built from bottom to top not the other way round.
Strong foundations are essential & while some people criticise the clubs of England & France who have wealthy backers. Unlike other nations they have very popular leagues that have successful commercial deals through TV this is then spread equally amongst the clubs together with Union funding & agreements in place for player release.

I also fear for Welsh rugby & am not sure on the true wishes of the WRU in relation to the Regions.

glamorganalun wrote:No loyalty considering the few games he has played

No loyalty? How many seasons has he been there now?

Let me ask you a question: if you were in a job that was getting less and less fulfilling every week, where morale among the staff was low and you were losing ground on rival companies, and then you were headhunted for a job with a better company for a higher salary, would you turn it down and stay put out of 'loyalty'?

Very interesting as a neutral to read all of these concerns about regional structure - I wasn't aware that things were being regarded as being as bad as this. I hope that it gets sorted out because there's something very wrong with the game of rugby in the NH if Welsh regions aren't competitive.

On this one occasion, I'm not sure that the WRU opening its chequebook would have made much difference although I agree that it would be nice to know that they tried for such a special player.

For information, it leaked out last month that when it was made known to the SRU that Sean Maitland would be available for Glasgow, they stepped in and fronted his entire salary for a three year deal themselves. These were just exceptional circumstances for a player like that who has indicated his intention to play for the national team.

Real parallels with Roberts there, I think.

Agree with Luckless. It's a short career. Roberts obviously has ambitions not just with Wales, but at club level. He deserves to be playing in a side that can compete in their own league and in Europe, swell as the obvious financial benefits!!

In terms of loyalty, I did read that between Roberts and Warburton, they only played for the Blues once last season between them! I know they both had injuries and it was World Cup year, but that must really hurt the Blues who pay their wages.

I read an interview with Roberts in the summer, when he stated that he was looking to get back for the AI's. He did end up coming back earlier than thought against the Dragons, but I thought to myself that he was putting Wales before the Blues. It seems to me that once you're a regular with Wales, it's like being at a club in itself. Somebody like Roberts becomes undroppable, regardless of form!

manofgwent wrote:Agree with Luckless. It's a short career. Roberts obviously has ambitions not just with Wales, but at club level. He deserves to be playing in a side that can compete in their own league and in Europe, swell as the obvious financial benefits!!

In terms of loyalty, I did read that between Roberts and Warburton, they only played for the Blues once last season between them! I know they both had injuries and it was World Cup year, but that must really hurt the Blues who pay their wages.

I read an interview with Roberts in the summer, when he stated that he was looking to get back for the AI's. He did end up coming back earlier than thought against the Dragons, but I thought to myself that he was putting Wales before the Blues. It seems to me that once you're a regular with Wales, it's like being at a club in itself. Somebody like Roberts becomes undroppable, regardless of form!

You only have to look at his performance against Leinster to see how committed to the blues he was. At one stage in the match he was floored by Darcy.