The prevailing mood in Welsh rugby has been frequently dark, but rarely this bible black. Once upon a time a Six Nations squad announcement would have topped the agenda across the country; on Tuesday it felt like a semicolon in a much bigger narrative. Even Wales have never selected seven players whose club is in imminent danger of being axed by their own union.
The bare facts of the situation are increasingly stark for all involved. The existing owners of Ospreys, Wales’s most successful region of the past two decades, have just been nominated controversially as the preferred bidders for Cardiff, potentially clearing the way to reduce the number of Welsh professional sides from four to three. The internecine politics have become so increasingly toxic that Steve Tandy, the national head coach, had to plead for rugby‑related questions at his lunchtime squad announcement.
