Welsh rugby's four professional sides are set to train against each other one day a week next season in an attempt to maintain sufficient numbers during the campaign.
With squad numbers dropping as budgets tighten over the next couple of seasons, players from the regions have been told teams are poised to train against each other on Thursdays before matchdays in order to have enough players involved in a session.
Professional Rugby Board chair Malcolm Wall has previously spoken about the expected size of squads for next season, believing that a squad of 44 would be achievable. However, financial constraints and uncertainty will see squad sizes suffer - meaning the farcical notion of teams training against each other could seemingly become a reality.
Both the Ospreys and Cardiff have previously suggested they expect to only have squads of 36 players to work with.
To compound matters, players have been left fearing the risk of burning out ahead of a lengthy pre-season schedule starting from next month - four-and-a-half months ahead of their next competitive match.
The 2023/24 United Rugby Championship season doesn't start until October 21 - the same weekend as the World Cup quarter-finals - yet the four Welsh sides are set to welcome players back just six weeks after the league season ended.
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The Scarlets, having reached a Challenge Cup semi-final, will return to work in mid-June, with the other sides understood to be reporting back at the start of next month. Their training loads will seemingly differ, with some spending time away from camp doing training alone.
One regional player told WalesOnline the lengthy pre-season "made no sense".
He added: "It basically equates to a 120-day pre-season. The players are risking burnout.
"It's mental. If I was a coach, I'd be spending the first four weeks or so focusing on skills. You can only get so fit."
One of the four professional sides will head back into camp at the start of June with little more than 20 players in their ranks either, with Cardiff still stuck in a difficult position after a raft of departures.
The Arms Park side saw 16 players leave at the end of this season, as restricted budgets saw them unable to offer competitive contracts to players. With 12 players in the 54-man Wales World Cup training squad, Cardiff face starting the pre-season with around 20 players in camp.
To make matters worse, there are still positions - like fly-half and centre - where the club are desperately light. Quite simply, reinforcements will be needed, but any announcements on signings are unlikely to be made before the situation with Dai Young is resolved.
Cardiff's director of rugby was suspended ahead of the final league game of the season after the club received a number of complaints from employees. Nothing has been said publicly about the nature of the allegations, but it is understood an investigation could take a number of weeks. You can read about that here too.
Regardless of that investigation, the nature of the market and Welsh rugby's tight finances mean recruitment for players could take the best part of the summer to be finalised. It's not out of the question that the Welsh sides will still be doing business well into September and October.
It's a farcical situation, given Cardiff are Wales' sole Champions Cup representative next season and will be playing some of Europe's best sides.
Former Dragons head coach Bernard Jackman spoke about the issue on The 42 podcast earlier this week, saying: "One of the Welsh regions is going to start pre-season with 20 players, give or take one or two, right?
"So, 20 contracted players, they'll have some players in the Welsh squad training for the Rugby World Cup. But not enough. Not enough.
"And their plan is, go to the market in September, when it's going to be a flood of players available. And obviously, the bargaining position as a club will be very strong because fellas at that stage will probably have missed two or three months of salary.
"They can get them for eight or nine month contracts. Which is back to, I remember back in when I was playing and you know, if you want to play in Italy, not one of the franchises effectively, the offers were eight or nine month contracts.
"So they never paid you for your off-season. That's the level that some of the teams we will be playing next season in the URC, are starting out now. So realistically, we are so lucky that we have the South Africans in the URC now, Glasgow and Edinburgh.
"I'm not putting them in that bracket. I think they're pretty well financed and well run. But that's the way some teams are looking at setting their squads up."
As well as the numbers turning up to pre-season training, the start date in a busy World Cup year is also a point of contention.
After a tumultuous season in Welsh rugby, with uncertainty over budgets and contracts lasting up until the very end, it could be argued that players need more of a break than usual.
And, with no competitive rugby until October and a likely heavy-load for non-internationals post-World Cup, a short break over the summer ahead of a pre-season that will effectively last nearly five months could be a tough pill to swallow for some.
Especially as it's understood the Irish provinces could be given around eight weeks off this summer, with their player representatives understanding that a lengthy break will be needed ahead of a hectic campaign.
It all begs the question of how the Welsh sides can possibly be competitive in the URC next season, particularly as Champions Cup qualification is set to revert to pure meritocracy.
Moving forward, it seems likely that the top eight in the league will qualify, rather than each winner of the geographical shields being guaranteed a place. As it stands, that would have seen no Welsh side qualify from this year's league placings.
Despite that, United Rugby Championship boss Martin Anayi insists Wales' four regions can be competitive over the coming seasons despite their playing budgets set to drop to £4.5million-a-year.
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