Warren Gatland's reappointment as Wales head coach is said to have followed his insistence on a root-and-branch review of the professional game in Wales.
It would make sense to once and for all try to nail down a joined-up approach, with Gatland only able to do so much with Team Wales unless there is harmony and coordination across the game: from the grassroots, to Welsh Premiership, the four regions, age-grade programmes and senior rugby.
With the Welsh Rugby Union stipulating that Gatland has the ability to remain with Wales up to and including the 2027 Rugby World Cup - which may involve an overarching role/director of rugby-type position - the ambition, at least, to put a long-term plan in motion seems to be there.
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So, what influence may Gatland have on a wide-ranging review and what might his suggestions look like?
Well, he actually outlined his vision for Welsh rugby three years ago - shortly after he had ended his 12-year tenure as head coach. When the prospect of returning to the helm had likely never entered his thought process, he gave a stark take on the domestic game and called for a number of changes to be made.
His blueprint, at that point in time, for the future included:
- Regional mergers and a new set-up for north Wales
- How regions must put facilities and appointing top-notch coaches first, and the players last
- Looking and learning from the successful provincial model in Ireland
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Supporting the regional game with a top division Welsh Premiership of eight clubs
The regions
Speaking at the close of 2019 after guiding Wales to a World Cup semi-final against eventual winners South Africa, Gatland told the BBC Scrum V podcast that he believed Welsh regional rugby was put on the back foot from the very start back in 2003.
"I think even right from the start of regional rugby you probably got the boundaries wrong," he said at the time. "That was hard. At the time Llanelli were probably the most successful entity and they wanted to keep their identity. To be honest, they should have joined with Swansea - but that couldn't happen."
Pointing to the game's popularity in Ireland, he said: "If we don't do something about the game here, if we don't think outside the box, if we just think about our own small and self interests, then the game is going to suffer terribly here. We need to think bigger picture and long term. Take away the parochial stuff, take away the tribal things and what we always did and what always happened here, think about how we're going to compete.
"The best example is Ireland and the way they're set up, they've got their four regions, and it's geographically set out. How are we going to compete with Ireland so we get the biggest numbers in the game with the most investment with being able to compete with the best teams in Europe? If we continue to do what we're doing we are going to struggle."
Ospreys-Scarlets merger backed
During Gatland's last Six Nations campaign in charge, back in 2019, came the bombshell that Welsh rugby was close to losing one of its four professional entities via an Ospreys merger with the Scarlets. The move ultimately did not materialise, and while Gatland said he had nothing to do with it, he backed it nonetheless.
Ideally, the Kiwi said he would like to see the Ospreys and Scarlets merge, the Dragons take in Pontypridd and the Valleys while setting up a new side in north Wales while Cardiff remained a standalone team.
On the Ospreys-Scarlets merger proposal, Gatland said at the time: "People have already discussed this and I think it makes sense. We nearly had that and it was nothing to do with me. I think it was pretty close.
"You need Cardiff as a major city as a team, then the Gwent area or the Dragons with Pontypridd and the Valleys, and then north Wales. There's a million people up in north Wales and then target the north of England community as well.
"These things take a generation for people to become used to the change. But I think that definitely has potential for the future to become a successful format.
"These are only my opinions and I know people with have different opinions. I'm not saying I'm right, I'm just expressing my opinion about my experiences in Wales. There's nothing wrong with people disagreeing.
"All I'm saying is try and look at the bigger picture and let's not be narrow-minded about 'what's in it for me and for my tiny, wee community?' How do we look globally? How do we look bigger than just my town and my village? In 10 years' time, the kids of those clubs would have forgotten about all that. They would have moved on. Sometimes it does take a generation for people to forget about some of those things."
'I'm not going to put my name to that'
Gatland admitted after his first stint as Wales boss that the Welsh Rugby Union probably wasn't as joined up as it could have been when it came to Wales, U20s, U18s and Sevens, but Gatland's comments suggest he won't be investing his time into prospective change unless it is a real possibility - a glimmer of hope, perhaps, for Welsh rugby supporters?
"My whole focus became just on Wales," he had said. "We weren't as joined up as we probably should have been from a Welsh Rugby Union in terms of U20s, U18s, Sevens. Unless I've got control of those things and I'm in charge, I'm not going to put my name to that. I can't control the regions as well, so why put a lot of effort on that without the ability to make change? So my whole focus has been completely on Wales and doing the best job I could do."
He called for a move away from the "football mentality" where managers can come and go in quick succession if results don't go their way. "That, to me, is a real detriment to the longevity of a club and game. I think we and our regions need to have a little bit of a look at ourselves.
"To start with, I would put the players last. The things I would make sure we have in our regions is the best facilities we can possibly have in terms of the pitches, gyms, recovery staff, nutrition, then the best coaches we could possibly get our hands on, the best S&C coaches, analysts Get everything right and then start thinking about the players, and then the academies. Then we might get some sustainability.
"Sometimes we go around the football model thinking about investment in players and probably haven't had the best investment in the past, and best staff and coaches in the past as a result.
"And as a result some of our performances haven't been as good as they could have been. Eventually that catches up with you. You want is sustainability and a long-term vision, and that's about creating the best environment you possibly can."
Welsh Premiership
Gatland revealed he was one of the driving forces behind the Welsh Premiership being increased from 12 to 16 clubs in the 2016-17 season, having seen a similar change in the New Zealand domestic game work a treat. His thinking was to eventually end up with a two-division Premiership with the top flight, considting of just eight teams, being the semi-professional structure underpinning the regions. But after a three-year ring-fencing of the 16-club Premiership, the 2019/20 season saw a return to 12 clubs. This summer saw confirmation that it will next increase from 12 to 14 clubs from the 2023-24 season, with a proposed reduction to 10 teams - backed by WRU performance director Nigel Walker - being rejected.
"We didn't tell the clubs initially that if we could do that for two or three years we'd split the Premiership into a top eight and a bottom eight," Gatland said.
"I saw the best way in the future to support the regional game was that you ended up with two divisions of eight teams with one up and one down every year. Those top eight teams then became your semi-pro teams supported by the WRU and the four regional teams.
"I thought that could be a real positive in terms of depth and strength. We haven't got enough players to support initially 16 and then 12 teams. But I thought potentially with the academies we could support eight teams. But we never got to that stage. We had one or two years of the 16 teams and they didn't like it and have gone back to 12."
On the top eight and bottom eight, he added: "That never would have happened, that never would have been agreed to by the clubs or anyone else because it's so tribal here, in terms or protecting our own interests, rather than potentially looking towards the future."
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