Is this the start of the new dawn for Welsh rugby

First topic message reminder :

After seeing players start to commit to DC and players coming back to Wales on DC, then the in-fighting stopping, I have just read this on Ospreys website:-

The Joint Supporters Groups (Cardiff Blues Supporters Club, Friends of Newport Rugby Trust, Ospreys Supporters Club and Crys16 The Scarlets Supporters Trust) are happy and encouraged to confirm that the Welsh Rugby Union Chairman Gareth Davies and Professional Rugby Wales Chief Executive Mark Davies have invited us to a meeting on Saturday 25th April prior to Judgement Day III at the Millennium Stadium.

The Joint Supporters Groups have previously had several meetings with Professional Rugby Wales (formally Regional Rugby Wales) and one meeting with the Welsh Rugby Union and the aim of the meeting is to revive the relationship between the WRU and Supporters Groups. 

In a ground-breaking meeting this will be the first time that the Joint Supporters Groups, Professional Rugby Wales and the Welsh Rugby Union have jointly met and we hope that this will be the first of many meetings with and a long standing relationship.

We will update our members and supporters in due course and in the meantime hope for a great occasion at Judgement Day III.

I have also found this :-

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/rugb ... th-9121643

Is this the first signs of change for Welsh rugby ?

Chunky Norwich wrote:

SecretFly wrote:Think it's confirmed now.  Roberts to Harlequins.  

So????  For the Welsh Regionaleers - what exactly could a Cap contrained Harlequins offer Roberts that a new WRU supported Central Contract regime  for a Welsh Region couldn't?

A chance of playing in a good league. And perhaps a few more pounds in the bank.

A few more pounds? I thought Central Contracts were meant to keep best players in the country or get them back? Harlequins is on poor money in comparison to what the WRU can throw at Roberts if they wanted him?

SecretFly wrote:

A few more pounds?  I thought Central Contracts were meant to keep best players in the country or get them back?  Harlequins is on poor money in comparison to what the WRU can throw at Roberts if they wanted him?

Obviously not. The chance to play in those packed grounds in England is more attractive than zebre and galway. Sorry if this hurts your feelings but the Aviva Premiership is a more attractive prospect for everybody.

Chunky Norwich wrote:

SecretFly wrote:

A few more pounds?  I thought Central Contracts were meant to keep best players in the country or get them back?  Harlequins is on poor money in comparison to what the WRU can throw at Roberts if they wanted him?

Obviously not. The chance to play in those packed grounds in England is more attractive than zebre and galway. Sorry if this hurts your feelings but the Aviva Premiership is a more attractive prospect for everybody.

No, I'm calling your bluff, Chunky. You know what I'm saying. Money talks. Ain't no way Roberts is going to Harlequins for less that he'd get from the WRU.... simply to be in a good League. There are many Irish Internationals that could be in 'better' leagues.

So - either WRU and Regions are not being serious about stemming the tide of Best players leaving and staying away...OR Harlequins are one of the sides being investigated by PRL???

Take your pick.

SecretFly wrote:
No, I'm calling your bluff, Chunky.  You know what I'm saying.  Money talks.  Ain't no way Roberts is going to Harlequins for less that he'd get from the WRU.... simply to be in a good League.  

Of course he's not going for less money. I just said he's going for more money.

So - either WRU and Regions are not being serious about stemming the tide of Best players leaving and staying away...OR  Harlequins are one of the sides being investigated by PRL???

Take your pick.

Oh I wonder which one it is????????????? Quins voted against the salary investigation being halted you madman.

They are paying Roberts MORE than the WRU, with their released purse-strings, are willing to pay him!

How much is Warburton getting in total?  WRU don't want to pay that to Roberts?  Maybe Roberts just isn't considered good enough to be worth what Harlequins will be paying him? Maybe no Region wanted him back. Maybe he isn't up to the standards they're planning for over the next few years?

And you constantly believe what these AP guys say, Chunky.  Harlequins?  'We want the investigation to go forward because we are innocent?'  It's like the Saracen's owner saying he's been told he's breaking no laws even though he's determined to stretch them at every opportunity......  

We'll see who is paying what behind the scenes when the investigation is completed, sometime in 2024.

Christ talk about conspiracy theories. It really is much simpler than that.

London. Aviva Premeirship. £30k more a year.

That's about it.

Roberts will most likely be a marquee signing and therefore his salary wont be included in the salary cap

lostinwales wrote:Roberts will most likely be a marquee signing and therefore his salary wont be included in the salary cap

Isn't James Horwill going there? Do they get 2 next year?

No it isn't.

You havn't spelled out what the combination outfit I&B League would be hoping to get. Name it. What would that League make?

Chunky Norwich wrote:

lostinwales wrote:Roberts will most likely be a marquee signing and therefore his salary wont be included in the salary cap

Isn't James Horwill going there? Do they get 2 next year?

Now you're beginning to see the light

Chunky Norwich wrote:

lostinwales wrote:Roberts will most likely be a marquee signing and therefore his salary wont be included in the salary cap

Isn't James Horwill going there? Do they get 2 next year?

yes they do


And I do think the inflation in big tent player numbers a bit silly, but those are the rules they have decided on

lostinwales wrote:

Chunky Norwich wrote:

lostinwales wrote:Roberts will most likely be a marquee signing and therefore his salary wont be included in the salary cap

Isn't James Horwill going there? Do they get 2 next year?

yes they do

Stands to reason they can afford him then. Warburton gets circa £300k with Wales, and he'll be the highest. There's every chance Roberts will be getting a few thousand more than he could get in Wales. Which renders the whole Dual contract / Gatland's law thing a bit pointless in terms of attractiveness.

He has said he wants to go to Oxford or Cambridge (I forget which one) so that could play a part in it and if he lives outside of Twickenham (Wycombe) would that not save him an hour and half commute from Cardiff. Also, Roberts might enjoy the big city life style. I'd imagen Paris to Cardiff might be a down grade in terms of life style, more so if you grew up there. Really bothers me when people assume everything is financially motivated. There are a lot of factors in this.

Edit

Before anyone starts. Cardiff is a great place but it's a very different kind of city from London or Paris.

Coleman wrote:He has said he wants to go to Oxford or Cambridge (I forget which one) so that could play a part in it and if he lives outside of Twickenham (Wycombe) would that not save him an hour and half commute from Cardiff. Also, Roberts might enjoy the big city life style. I'd imagen Paris to Cardiff might be a down grade in terms of life style, more so if you grew up there. Really bothers me when people assume everything is financially motivated. There are a lot of factors in this.

Edit

Before anyone starts. Cardiff is a great place but it's a very different kind of city from London or Paris.

Well it's just that up to this point, Chunky was exactly such a character. Everything IS and/or should be financially motivated. Professionalism and Growth.

Now he's changed his tune and assumes Roberts is just going to Quins because they are a better side than Cardiff, playing in a better League. No money factor on his mind at all.

SecretFly wrote:

Coleman wrote:He has said he wants to go to Oxford or Cambridge (I forget which one) so that could play a part in it and if he lives outside of Twickenham (Wycombe) would that not save him an hour and half commute from Cardiff. Also, Roberts might enjoy the big city life style. I'd imagen Paris to Cardiff might be a down grade in terms of life style, more so if you grew up there. Really bothers me when people assume everything is financially motivated. There are a lot of factors in this.

Edit

Before anyone starts. Cardiff is a great place but it's a very different kind of city from London or Paris.

Well it's just that up to this point, Chunky was exactly such a character.  Everything IS and/or should be financially motivated.  Professionalism and Growth.  

Now he's changed his tune and assumes Roberts is just going to Quins because they are a better side than Cardiff, playing in a better League.  No money factor on his mind at all.    

Are you blind / illiterate?

Chunky Norwich wrote:London. Aviva Premeirship. £30k more a year.

That's about it.

For me there are quite a few reasons that Roberts has chosen Quins over the Blues all of which are understandable.

1. Did the Blues actually want him in the end given how much time he is likely to be away with Wales?
2. Money, yes it does come into it in this professional era and given that he has had a few injuries and his style of play means he will get a few more he has to look after No1.
3. Would he really want to go to the Blues at the moment given the poor state they are in?
4. Roberts strikes me as a bit of a culture vulture and the type of person who likes new adventures and having played lived in Wales and Cardiff London is now another exciting chapter for him.
5. I wouldn't be surprised if he hung up his boots Internationally after the WC and I would imagine there is more possibility of him fulfilling his medical carear in London than there is in Cardiff.

All of these reasons are totally understandable to me but others will always read into it than what it is.

Chunky Norwich wrote:

SecretFly wrote: 

Now he's changed his tune and assumes Roberts is just going to Quins because they are a better side than Cardiff, playing in a better League.  No money factor on his mind at all.    

Are you blind / illiterate?

Chunky Norwich wrote:London. Aviva Premeirship. £30k more a year.

That's about it.

You say what you say, Chunk.  If you want to pretend every few pages that you haven't said what you've said, then I suggest you scrub what you've said in advance of saying you didn't say these things!

Chunky says: "The chance to play in those packed grounds in England is more attractive than zebre and galway. Sorry if this hurts your feelings but the Aviva Premiership is a more attractive prospect for everybody."


The reason I brought up Roberts/Quins/MONEY is because I knew you'd catch.  You talk about how much of a joke the Pro12 is - with bias, and preferential playing days for some and not others, and suspicious set-ups of a reffing kind etc etc - and yet turn the blind eye to the 'joke' of the AP, where some sides constrain themselves legally to an agreed budget for players whilst others - don't.  

Your Great Noble English Aviva Premiership MoneyBucks League is as twisted and as much a loaded-dice in favour of the few over the many as you claim the Pro12 to be.  But bury that 'inequality' where the AP Investigation went - under the carpet.  Such truths aren't good for the propaganda.