The Welsh Rugby Union are proposing to cut the number of regional teams from four to three in a bombshell plan that will change the game in Wales.
The proposals, which WRU chief Steve Phillips will discuss with the regions next week, will likely see the previously doomed Scarlets-Ospreys merger put forward as one option, while the axing of the WRU-owned Dragons or the Ospreys has also been mooted. Any move that threatens the existence of a side is likely to be met with fierce opposition from some quarters.
The Union have spent around £25,000 commissioning a report by Oakwell Sports Advisory, known as the Umbers report, with recommendations suggesting losing a team is the way to make professional rugby in Wales financially viable and successful. It's understood the Dragons and the Ospreys are the two sides named in the report as potentially being under threat, with the Dragons' ownership model and the Ospreys' lack of stadium ownership mentioned.
