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Talks over the Wales strike reached a deadlock as the players and the Welsh Rugby Union failed to agree on a resolution ahead of the Six Nations clash with England in Cardiff on Saturday.
- Sportsmail revealed last week that Wales players are considering a strike
- Warren Gatland’s team plans to strike if their demands are not met by Wednesday
- The WRU are set to earn around £9m from Saturday’s clash with England.
The Wales team and Welsh Rugby Union interim chief executive Nigel Walker failed to find a solution on Monday that would prevent a players’ strike for Saturday’s England clash.
Despite spending the day locked in conversations surrounding the team’s training schedule, the two sides have yet to agree. It means this weekend’s Six Nations tie remains highly doubtful.
As contract chaos engulfs the Wales game and the clock ticks down towards Wednesday’s player-imposed deadline to resolve the deadlock, there remains a lot of work to be done if the England game is to go ahead.
Canceling the match would cost the WRU around £9 million. With 90 Wales-based players out of contract at the end of the season and currently unable to be offered new deals and financial uncertainty dominating the game, Sportsmail revealed that Warren Gatland’s national team were considering a strike for the game of England.
To avoid such a scenario, they made three main demands. These included the abolition of Welsh rugby’s controversial 60 cap rule and the removal of the variable element from proposed player contracts.
Wales players are still considering strike action ahead of their Six Nations clash with England.
Senior members of Warren Gatland’s team insist his current position is not an empty threat
Neither of those two matters is understood to have been resolved on Monday. On Sunday evening, Welsh Rugby professional rugby board chairman Malcom Wall said an announcement on the 60-player rule would be imminent.
He also confirmed that there was a resolution on the third gaming demand, which was that they have a player representative at the PRB level. Welsh Rugby Players Association chief executive Gareth Lewis is understood to be able to sit at PRB meetings from this week but will not be a voting member.
Effectively, it means that Welsh players will be able to listen to PRB discussions but not affect them. Adding a WRPA representative to the current eight voting members of PRB would require a change to the WRU constitution.
The Wales players had set a deadline of Wednesday for their demands to be met, but the ongoing stalemate over the 60-cap rule and fixed variable contracts means they are not happy. The WRU sources indicated that they are taking the strike threat very seriously.
WRU interim chief executive Nigel Walker (pictured), members from all four regions and the Welsh Rugby Players Association will spend the start of this week in talks.
On Wednesday, there will be a full players’ meeting between all Welsh professionals and members of the PRB to discuss the latest proposals and try to avoid a strike. On Tuesday, Gatland will continue to prepare as if the England game were underway by naming his squad for the weekend. Deep down, however, all is not well.
A regional source told Sportsmail: ‘The position is bleak. Things are getting worse, not better.
On Monday, the Cardiff players were briefed on Welsh rugby’s current bleak financial situation and what regional budgets would look like under the six-year funding model that remains on the table but has yet to be officially signed.
The bottom line is that money is tight in Welsh rugby at the moment and England’s game remains on a knife edge.