WALES COACH: Warren Gatland.
Warren Gatland’s role in helping to broker peace in Welsh rugby’s civil war has included the adoption of a rule preventing players who ply their trade overseas being available for the national team.
After months of bickering, Wales’ national body and its four regions have agreed to terms, signing a £60 million (NZ$118m) deal for six years.
With finances approved, it is hoped the clubs and country will be able to stop the player drain to competitions like the lucrative French club scene.
The Times reported that equally important in the attempt to plug the talent drain was a new ruling, dubbed “Gatland’s Law”, under which players plying their trade outside Wales would be unavailable for selection for the national team.
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It will be applied with a little leniency to special cases but is seen as a statement of intent and should mean fewer players leaving and several top players returning when their contracts are up.
Welsh players already under contract to foreign clubs will not have the new deal imposed on them.
“We will do everything to ensure that playing in Wales remains as attractive as possible,” Welsh Rugby Union chief executive Roger Lewis said.
He told The Times that Wales would still not be able to compete with the biggest contracts being offered by French clubs, and exceptions to Gatland’s Law would be made on a case-by-case basis if Welsh players were offered terms abroad with which the Welsh system could not compete.
“The Wales coach cannot be hamstrung by such a policy,” Lewis said.
“We cannot and will not blackmail players in this context. It’s got to be fair.
“It would backfire on us if we were draconian and prescriptive on such a policy. There are things we know will not be possible to achieve.”
Lewis felt the French national team was suffering because of French clubs dominating the international player market and luring top overseas talent at the expense of local development.
Wales does not want to fall into that trap. Part of the new deal is a limit to the number of non-Welsh players that each region is allowed on its payroll – up to six foreign players, plus another two who have completed three years’ residency.
It also has 10 to 15 senior players, selected by Gatland, being placed on dual club and country contracts.
The instant winner out of the peace deal is Wales captain Sam Warburton.
His central contract with the Welsh union meant he had been in limbo with his Cardiff Blues club because the regions had agreed not to allow any player with a central contract to represent them.