Sam Warburton issues Welsh rugby manifesto for life after Warren Gatland
Former Wales rugby captain Sam Warburton has laid out his plan for what the Welsh Rugby Union should do next after the departure of Warren Gatland as head coach.
The New Zealander's second stint with Wales came to an end on Tuesday, following a torrid run of 14 successive Test match defeats and a dismal losing start to the Six Nations. Cardiff head coach Matt Sherratt has been named as Wales' new interim boss and will take the reins for the remainder of the Championship.
Writing in his column for The Times, Warburton - who praised Gatland as one of the best coaches he had during his career - admitted a change did have to be made and has welcomed the appointment of Sherratt. But he added that any coaching change is a "superficial fix" and will do little to solve the "multitude of problems" Welsh rugby continues to face.
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In particular, the former Cardiff back row is concerned about player production and participation in Wales and has laid out his plans on how to turn the situation around. While he has previously advocated cutting the number of regions, Warburton says he understands the WRU want to have "one last shot" at making four Welsh professional sides work, although alternative plans are also being discussed.
As a result, the former Wales skipper has said if four regions do remain, a 'two plus two' funding model should be created, with two sides receiving more funding than the other two to allow them to be competitive in the league and European competition. Playing down suggestions that he would presume Cardiff to be one of the better-funded sides, Warburton added that such a move should be made through an application process.
"The four regions need to demonstrate how good they are, be judged via on-field performance, academy pathways and infrastructure, on commercial viability and the number of players that they’ve historically produced for the national team," he said.
"All these things need to be factored in and the two most successful overall regions should get the higher funding. That could also be something that is reviewed every three to five years."
Warburton went on to suggest another option, namely merging the regions into East and West, with the creation of a third North Wales region also a possibility. While he admitted that the area is not known for producing many top-level players, he said he has heard there is "a lot of interest" from investors if a region was to be created in the North.
That, Warburton says, would leave Welsh rugby with three 'super regions', which would "ideally" play in an Anglo-Welsh competition but could also be in the URC.
"With three super regions, you would probably then have a group of 35 contracted players of national interest," he said. "Anybody who’s not a player of national interest would then be dual-contracted or seconded to a club side in the Super Rygbi Cymru league.
"There, we could go as tribal as we want, with all the traditional clubs in a ten-team league, and hopefully some of them could participate in the Premiership Cup in England."
Looking further down the chain, Warburton argues that it is not the WRU's responsibility to "financially hold up" every club in Wales, describing it as "impossible" and claiming that even doubling the amount of money each club receives won't increase player participation.
Suggesting that the WRU should support clubs to become self-reliant by running workshops, helping train coaches and giving advice on matters like getting sponsorship and increasing revenue, he added: "Money alone from them is not the answer, but the money they do get should be on a pro-rata basis depending on how successful they are on and off the field. There could be three tiers of funding so larger, more successful and well driven clubs get more funding."
Finally, Warburton said the Welsh Government can also "do its bit" by ensuring rugby is played in every school across Wales, with the former flanker admitting he was shocked to discover that some schools in Bridgend don't play the sport at all.
"The benefits are multiple, whether that is in local rugby clubs, the regions, [or] the national team," he said, adding that playing rugby in every school would be "the start of a long journey that needs to be undertaken if Welsh rugby is to recapture the glories that seem so distant."
