It’s an issue which has divided opinion like few others in Welsh rugby in recent years and it’s back in the spotlight once again - the 60-cap rule.
The question now is whether it will have to be amended or even scrapped altogether should there be a mass exodus of players at the end of this season. Uncertainty over future budgets at the regions, amid a protracted impasse in negotiations with the WRU, has left a number of players in limbo.
You have people out of contract and there is currently a freeze on new deals being offered while funding figures continue to be thrashed out behind the scenes.
Highly respected Cardiff captain Josh Turnbull summed up the mood recently when he said: “There will be many players who are stressed at the moment because of what’s happening. It’s quite a hard situation for everyone. They just want security that they’re in a job and there’s a contract for them moving forward.”
Without that in place, it’s inevitable that players would start to look outside of Wales to secure a future for them and their families. Now this is where the whole debate over the 60-cap rule is reignited.
The regulation was introduced in 2017 as a successor to Gatland’s Law, which hadn’t been fit for purpose because it contained so many caveats, clauses and loopholes.
In essence, the new rule said any player with fewer than 60 caps would become ineligible for Wales if they signed a deal with a club outside the country.
The primary purpose of the legislation was to benefit the national team. The idea was to have as many Welsh squad members as possible based on home soil, so they would be available for all training sessions and matches.
Preparation time is crucial at international level and the more exiled players you have on board the more problematic it becomes. While home-based players are available for full pre-tournament camps and can be retained throughout the campaign, those who ply their trade in England are accessible far less often.
They arrive later, they go back to their clubs during fallow Six Nations weeks and they also have to be released to them on a Tuesday of Test week if they not in the match 23, while they are unavailable for the out-of-window autumn international, as was the case against Australia last week, for the likes of Louis Rees-Zammit, Nick Tompkins, Tommy Reffell, Christ Tshiunza and Dafydd Jenkins.
To give an idea what this all means numbers-wise, Wales will hold around 35 training sessions during the Six Nations period. English-based players can be available for as few as 10 of those, depending how many matches they are involved in. So having exiles in the squad does throws up major issues, hence the legislative move to try to persuade players to stay on home soil.
On that front, it has worked, with the likes of Tomas Francis, Josh Adams, Will Rowlands, Rhys Carre, Ross Moriarty, Alex Cuthbert and Rhys Priestland all moving from England to Wales either to continue their international careers or become eligible for Test duty once more.
You’ve also seen the likes of Josh Navidi, Gareth Anscombe, Tomos Williams and the aforementioned Moriarty staying here when they could have probably taken up lucrative offers elsewhere.
A burning desire to wear the red of Wales has been a common driving factor among these players and, under the 60-cap rule, they know they need to play regional rugby to do that. But now, amid all the financial uncertainty, we have reached a new watershed moment where the regulation may not be enough of a deterrent, where it may start to lose its bite and become unworkable.
You have already had some cases of players putting their livelihoods over putting on the Wales jersey. Grand Slam second row Cory Hill brought a halt to his international career by heading for Japan, while the likes of Jonah Holmes and Owen Williams have also opted to take jobs that have made them ineligible.
The seven-timed-capped Holmes turned down the elite 38 contract he was offered by the WRU earlier this year and left the Dragons to join English Championship club Ealing Trailfinders.
Now there is the prospect of another player departing the Gwent region to head out of the country in the sizeable shape of Will Rowlands. That would be a major blow as the former Wasps lock is the reigning Wales Player of the Year and a key man looking ahead to the World Cup.
But it’s understood he rejected the contract extension he was presented with by the Union some months ago, being unhappy over the offer in terms of his wage banding. As one of Wayne Pivac’s elite 38, the WRU would pay 80 per cent of his salary and the Dragons 20 per cent.
Amid the current embargo, there is no scope for an improved deal being tabled by the Union - if they were minded to do so - or for the Dragons to make their own. As a result, the out-of-contract Rowlands may opt to move on at the end of the season and he is being linked with both Bath and Racing 92.
That would mean him being unable to play for Wales and missing out on the World Cup. The concern is he may not be the only international who decides to up sticks. The 60-cap rule has generally dissuaded front-line stars from going down that road up to now. But, these are unprecedented times and you do sense that players are becoming increasingly frustrated. They all want to represent Wales, but they also have mortgages to pay and they need to have firm future plans in place. Some may decide that means having to put their international careers on hold or even calling time on them.
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Potentially, that could see a rush for the exit door. Similarly, might those Wales stars currently plying their trade in England think twice and even thrice about heading back here once their contracts expire?
If we end up with a significant number of Welsh squad contenders playing outside the country, where does that leave the 60-cap rule? Would the WRU stick with it?
Would they just grit their teeth and look to field a side from what is left on home soil, along with those exiles still eligible through having left when they had either zero or 60-plus caps? It would inevitably reduce the national team’s chances of being successful if a large posse of key men are out of the equation.
There is also the aspect that you can see the rule being circumnavigated somewhat by talented uncapped Welsh youngsters being handed open-ended, rolling contracts by English clubs. That would get around it and mean they wouldn’t have to head home once capped. Agents will doubtless have been giving the issue much thought.
Now, of course, there are those who feel the 60-cap regulation shouldn’t exist in the first place. Jamie Roberts has labelled it outrageous and absolutely berserk, while Dan Biggar has just this week called for it to be scrapped. Both of those point to just how much they have benefited from playing rugby outside of Wales in terms of new experiences and environments.
They are certainly not alone in arguing you should just pick the best players regardless of where they play their rugby. Fans generally say that because they want the Wales team to be as strong as possible. But there is the counter-argument that the rule was primarily introduced to strengthen the side by having the bulk of players available for all international duties.
Up to now, the regulation has achieved that goal in the main. But if it stops working in terms of retaining and reclaiming Welsh talent, because of the financial climate, then a reappraisal may be required.
I have always been supportive of the rule, in part because of the issue of preparation time for Team Wales, but also because the regions need all the assistance they can get in terms of holding on to and signing Welsh internationals. Everyone accepts the regional squads needs strengthening, so I could never go along with scrapping a rule that actually helps on that front.
But we are now at something of a fork in the road. Demanding loyalty from players is one thing, but you have to back that up financially, otherwise it is both unfair and unworkable. At present, players just don’t have security in Wales and so you can hardly blame them for looking outside the country, even if that means stepping away from Test rugby.
If that happens en masse, then you do wonder what that will mean for the 60-cap rule. One option would be for the Union to scrap it and pay English clubs for full access to Welsh players, as the RFU do for England players. The WRU have always resisted that option, but if the alternative is the international team losing and match income imploding then they might have to consider that as an option.
Much will hinge on what happens over the next few months in terms of whether the impasse between the regions and the Union can be resolved quickly enough and suitably enough to avoid the kind of mass exodus we saw around a decade ago - an exodus that ultimately led to the 60-cap rule.
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