Welsh rugby is in serious danger of missing out on the services of Regan Grace amid dithering over a potential move for the free-scoring wing.
His rugby league club St Helens hope he will stay with them and are believed to have offered him a contract extension. There is also interest from a handful of Gallagher Premiership sides for the 25-year-old, who hails from Port Talbot but is dual-qualified, with his father from England.
The problem in Wales is that the professional teams this side of the River Severn have all but spent their player budgets for next season. But Wayne Pivac is understood to be keen to see how Grace, scorer of 84 tries in 134 games for St Helens, measures up in 15-a-side, with the 2023 union World Cup on the horizon.
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The idea of the Welsh Rugby Union signing him has been floated but so far nothing has come of it and the time is quickly approaching when a player England World Cup winner Jason Robinson has described as "electric" will have to make his call.
Five top English clubs are believed to have already shown an interest in the wing, with Sale and London Irish reportedly among them.
All would presumably be attracted by Grace's attacking ability.
In 2020 he scored what was hailed as ‘the greatest hat-trick ever’, involving a 95-metre score, a remarkable touchline finish and a 100-metre coast-to-coast touchdown, all for St Helens against Leeds Rhinos. You can read more about Grace's terrific treble here.
He is a sinuous runner who has pace and balance and is difficult to stop. He has been described as a 'superstar' in rugby league circles.
The assumption is that he’s also durable and able to take a knock after five full seasons in league.
But Wales have to decide how serious is their interest in him, where Grace would go if he came to Welsh rugby to play and how such a move would be funded, otherwise a player likened to England cross-code legend Robinson and South Africa’s Cheslin Kolbe could well decide to remain on the other side of the border.
