No domestic bliss for ongoing Welsh rugby soap opera
National woes
Played 10, lost 10. That was the dismal record of Wales' two national sides in the 2025 Six Nations in the space of 86 difficult days.From the 43-0 Friday night Paris mauling dished out to Wales' men's side in January to the 44-12 hammering inflicted by Italy's women in late April, it proved a miserable three months as both sides finished rock bottom.Wales men have lost all eight matches this season to take the international record losing sequence to 17 following another clean sweep of Six Nations defeats.So there was no surprise when there was a record low of two players, captain Jac Morgan and scrum-half Tomos Williams, named in the British and Irish Lions touring party to Australia.Gatland departed in February, Cardiff coach Matt Sherratt taking charge for the rest of the Six Nations which finished with the record 68-14 home loss to England in March.Sherratt remains in charge for Japan, with new performance director Dave Reddin - who might wonder what he has let himself in for - leading the process for Gatland's permanent successor.Wales women have also gained a new coach after Ioan Cunningham paid the price for the contracts dispute at the back-end of 2024. Ironically, Cunningham was the only Wales national coach to gain a victory in the regular season with a 19-10 win against Japan in the WXV2 tournament in South Africa.Former Gloucester-Hartpury boss Sean Lynn came in just a week before the Six Nations started after guiding his club to a third successive league title.Lynn was quickly exposed to the harsh realities as his side became the first Wales women's team to lose all five matches in a Six Nations tournament. He will expect more during the World Cup in England later this year.There is some hope. Wales captain Morgan has been a stoic figure in adversity, while Scarlets and Wales full-back Blair Murray has been the find of the season.Wales Under-20s provided arguably the performance and occasion of the campaign.Richard Whiffin's side defeated defending world champions England in the final Six Nations game at a raucous Arms Park to deny the visitors another Grand Slam. Wales will travel to Italy this summer for the Junior World Championship.
Domestic duties
In terms of results, the Welsh sides matched the previous campaign with one team reaching the Challenge Cup quarter-finals and the URC play-off last eight. In 2023-24, it was Ospreys who achieved both those feats under the guidance of Toby Booth. This season - with Booth departing just before Christmas and replaced by Mark Jones - Ospreys managed the European knockout stages again but it was Scarlets who reached the league play-offs with a storming finish to the regular campaign before a last-eight defeat at Leinster.On paper there was a slight improvement in results, despite the salary cap reducing to £4.5m. In the 2024-25 URC season, Welsh teams won 25 games compared to 22 in the previous campaign.Scarlets (nine) and Cardiff (eight) were the most improved with their win totals improving by four victories each, while Ospreys had three fewer wins than in 2023-24.Dragons were again the major disappointment as they equalled the record for the worst URC league season with just nine points, finishing bottom in a nightmare campaign which also saw Filo Tiatia replace Dai Flanagan as head coach.The Welsh side lost 17 successive league games after defeating Ospreys on the opening weekend in September 2024 for a sole success.The dip in interest has also seen Welsh rugby's Judgement Day shelved for next season after a crowd of only 28,000 attended this season's event in April, compared to the 50,000 that turned up for the Bath v Bristol English Premiership match staged a month later at the same Principality Stadium venue.
More of the WRU same
Welsh rugby has made as many negative off-the-field headlines this season as they have on it. Those hoping fresh faces at the top would signify no more controversies will be disappointed.The change in personnel with chair Richard Collier-Keywood and chief executive Abi Tierney at the helm has so far not resulted in an alteration in headlines or produced an improvement in the dreadful state of the Welsh game. Old behaviours reared its head as Wales women's players were threatened with withdrawal from the WXV2 international competition and, subsequently, this summer's World Cup as contract talks broke down.They were issued with a "final offer" ultimatum on 2 August, saying if they did not sign within a three-hour deadline, planned matches against New Zealand, Scotland and Australia would not go ahead and the contracts would be withdrawn.The WRU later apologised for their behaviour but refuted allegations of sexism. Collier-Keywood said the row represented a "failure" of governance and leadership by the union and the "crisis" could have been avoided.Head coach Cunningham and executive director of rugby Walker both departed to be effectively replaced by Lynn and Reddin.
Cardiff chaos
The WRU launched its "One Wales" strategy in the summer of 2024, with the new Professional Rugby Agreement (PRA) promised to follow soon after to form an integral part of the long-term strategy.That has not transpired. The WRU had to cope with Cardiff going into administration in April before the governing body bailed them out. That event has led to the dispute between the WRU and Ospreys and Scarlets over the new PRA.Ospreys and Scarlets did not sign up to Welsh rugby's new agreement by the deadline of 8 May, despite the document being signed by Dragons and Cardiff.Ospreys and Scarlets say they asked the WRU for assurances the takeover "will not disproportionally benefit Cardiff and disadvantage the independent clubs" but claim they were not given guarantees.After the deadline was missed, the WRU announced it will move away from a model of four evenly funded professional sides and intend to implement a new two-tier funding system.It is a decision which Ospreys and Scarlets say has "created more destabilising and debilitating uncertainty in our game".The WRU has now served a two-year notice on the current agreement that underpins the Welsh professional game. That current PRA runs out in 2027 although it was due to be superseded by the new five-year deal.
Will four become three?
Tierney had continually talked about four equal regions being the way forward but the goalposts have moved with the governing body also having to refinance its debt with the bank.It has been mooted the cash-strapped WRU intends to cut a team from its professional tier with the governing body neither confirming or denying this prospect. They hope to have a long-term decision made by September but currently Ospreys and Scarlets, who are Wales' Champions Cup representatives next season, will be on inferior terms than their east Wales rivals. These events have caused another rift in Welsh rugby that has seen Ospreys and Scarlets' local politicians get involved and could ultimately end up with lawyers.The latest saga has caused more uncertainty among players and supporters about what the future holds, with little transparency across the game in Wales and teams fighting for survival.There are no winners with Welsh rugby's reputation again publicly dragged through the dirt.Not many dull days in Welsh rugby then with more upheaval to come, which some argue is essential for an upturn in the flagging fortunes. We wait to see what chaos the 2025-26 circus will bring.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Times
24 minutes ago
- Times
Donald Trump can show Keir Starmer how to stop the boats
When Keir Starmer meets Donald Trump in Scotland on Monday, they will have an obvious topic of discussion: how to control illegal border crossings. Both came to power on a wave of public anger over asylum seekers. Both vowed to take back control but the results couldn't be more different. Britain's small-boat arrivals have hit record highs, with migrant hotels full and protests spreading. In the US, illegal crossings from Mexico have collapsed and are 97 per cent below their Biden-era peak. As Trump likes to say: 'Promises made, promises kept'. It helps explain why, in spite of tariff chaos and the Epstein drama, Trump's approval rating remains one of the highest among the leaders of major countries. Starmer's, by contrast, has fallen with Liz Truss-style speed to a level from which no prime minister has ever recovered. He will find much to disagree with in Trump's approach to border control. But he'll also find lessons: in what works, what doesn't and what voters expect. It's hard to understand Trump's re-election without grasping the depth of feeling about illegal immigration under Joe Biden. 'The border is closed; the border is secure,' declared Alejandro Mayorkas, Biden's homeland security chief, in 2021. An unprecedented 2.2 million illegal arrivals the next year proved him wrong. 'There is no word to describe this except 'invasion',' said the governor of Montana, a state 800 miles from the southern border but already feeling the ramifications. Authorities were overwhelmed. Those apprehended, children included, were often kept in appalling conditions. Then came the deaths: 53 found suffocated in a people-smuggling truck in Texas. Then the crime: theft, assaults, fentanyl and meth-smuggling — each example used by Trump's supporters as a parable of national collapse. By the start of last year, 78 per cent of Americans agreed that the border situation was in crisis or, at least, a major problem. Cue Trump. He declared a national emergency on day one, deploying thousands of troops to the Mexican border. Then came the shock and awe. Some 10,000 refugees who had been approved for settlement in the US had the offer rescinded, their entry denied and their flight tickets rendered worthless. Police were told to detain everyone, rather than release people who would then start their asylum case. It caused outrage — but, to Trump, helpful outrage. It sent out a message: best not try your luck. The results were almost instant and spectacular. Monthly figures for border 'encounters' collapsed to the lowest level since the 1960s. Had Trump left it there, all might have been well. But ICE, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, started to go after those who had been in the US for years, using what critics regard as stormtrooper-style tactics. Masked officers raided workplaces; flash grenades were used against Californian protesters. Under Biden ICE had, in effect, been told to stand down. Trump sent ICE to war. The recent clashes in Los Angeles offer a taste of this new normal. I was in Washington recently and saw a side to ICE that's rarely glimpsed from this side of the Atlantic: its speed, its success and its sense of a moral mission. 'The American people deserve a federal government that chooses to put them first,' I was told. 'We go after the worst of the worst: gang members, murderers and rapists.' But it's also going after law-abiding Venezuelans who have suddenly been recategorised as illegal. With almost 1,000 arrests every day, it's proving a bit much even for Trump's supporters. The prime minister will be appalled at this. But what should really haunt him is a phrase that was doing the rounds in Washington under Biden: 'If liberals won't control borders, fascists will.' It's hyperbolic: Trump, for all his flaws, is no fascist. But the warning very much applies here. If centrists can't restore order, populists will be put in power to do it instead. Starmer's current methods are failing as badly as Biden's. His 'smash the gangs' strategy is going nowhere; his deals with the French have no effect. Small-boat arrivals have risen by 50 per cent so far this year; far-right protesters will be outside a migrant hotel in Epping this weekend. Nigel Farage, safely ahead in the polls, is doing his own ICE-man-cometh routine, saying that he'd send even British prisoners to El Salvador. The small-boats debacle is a daily outrage, an ever-renewing symbol of government failure. To see young men couriered over and checked into hotels and served hot meals will obviously anger those struggling to put food on the table. The situation could be designed to cause outrage, erode confidence in the government and drive voters towards the angry right. But even now, Starmer has plenty of time to act. What if he were to cut a deal to send every small-boat arrival not to an Essex hotel but straight to Rwanda or Kosovo, where they would have to stay even if their claim was upheld? If all 1,000 arrivals were deported on a Monday, then all 700 on a Tuesday, how many might still arrive on the Friday? We'd likely see a US-style collapse in numbers. It need not be a rerun of Tory policy as Starmer could also bring in a one-out, two-in policy. For every small-boat deportee he could fly in two vetted asylum seekers from the (many) UK-funded refugee camps, with a bias towards women and children. It would be a question of how, not whether, Britain discharges its moral duty to the world's dispossessed: using our rules, not those of the gangs. He could use his legal background to write a new framework, replacing the 1951 Refugee Convention which has descended into a people traffickers' charter. Yes, deportation is cruel. But far less so than today's system of criminal gangs, deaths in transit and, perhaps worse, the collapse of public support for the asylum system. Trump embodies a simple point: when borders get out of control, voters will press the Godzilla button and call in the big beasts. Labour has always seen immigration as a question of values: compassion, duty, international solidarity. It still can be, but only if control is restored. Without it, the issue becomes a test not of moral character but of basic competence. On that score, Labour is failing spectacularly. For years, the left has warned that populists thrive when institutions fail. The asylum system, in its current state, is just such a failure: chaotic, cruel and politically toxic. Fix it, and Starmer could offer Britain an alternative to Farageism. Fail, and the electorate may soon conclude that only Reform UK is serious about solving the problem. Starmer can still avoid this fate. He just needs to stop acting as the clerk of a broken system and, instead, become the author of a new one.
The Independent
26 minutes ago
- The Independent
Labour urged to overhaul crucial pension-age benefit claimed by millions
The government has been told it needs to make major changes to a pension-age benefit claimed by millions if it is to effectively tackle pensioner poverty in the UK. Claimed by 1.3 million individuals, Pension Credit is designed to bring low-income pensioners' funds up to a liveable level. Under current entitlement, claimants will see their incomes topped up to at least £227.10 a week. But more must be done to improve take-up of the benefit, the cross-party Work and Pensions Committee has warned, as well as changes to make it fairer. Despite being worth up to £4,000 a year, the take-up of pension credit has hovered between 61 and 66 per cent for a decade, with an estimated 700,000 households being eligible but not claiming, the committee found in its report on pensioner poverty. A taper to pension credit should also be considered to 'mitigate the cliff-edge effect' for those who currently miss out, it added. Under current rules, some pensioners just above income thresholds could end up worse off than those with slightly lower incomes. This is because Pension Credit can 'passport' recipients to other benefits such as housing benefit, council tax support, the warm home discount, a free TV licence, and help with dental treatment. In winter last year, it was also linked to the winter fuel payment, resulting in around around 60,000 extra awards of the benefit. But there is 'still a long way to go,' the committee report says. It also urged the Government to commit to a UK-wide, cross-government strategy for an ageing society to better target support and tackle pensioner poverty. The number of pensioners in relative low income began rising again in the 2010s, the cross-party group notes, reversing a decline from the 2000s. This was exacerbated by the recent cost of living crisis, with 1.9 million pensioners (16 per cent) now living in relative poverty. Committee chairwoman Debbie Abrahams said: 'To boost incomes, the Government needs to come up with a strategy to increase pension credit take-up. It's a scandal that so many have missed out for so many years, often through an aversion to claiming benefits altogether, or lack of support. 'The fairness of the pensions credit eligibility criteria where if you are a penny above the threshold, you miss out on thousands of pounds, also needs to be looked at. 'Ultimately, the Government should decide what it thinks is enough for a dignified retirement, and then work to ensure that all pensioners are on at least that level. A government spokesperson said: 'Supporting pensioners is a top priority, and thanks to our commitment to the Triple Lock, millions will see their yearly State Pension rise by £1,900 this parliament. We have also run the biggest-ever campaign to boost Pension Credit take-up, with nearly 60,000 extra pensioner households being awarded the benefit, worth on average around £4,300 a year. 'But we know there is a real risk that tomorrow's pensioners will be poorer than today's, which is why we are reviving the Pension Commission, to tackle the barriers that stop too many people from saving.'
The Independent
26 minutes ago
- The Independent
Self-driving Tesla tackles the UK's most confusing roundabout
Elon Musk 's self-driving Tesla car has taken on one of it's biggest challenges yet - Swindon 's notorious 'Magic Roundabout'. The M4 roadway, composed of five mini roundabouts orbiting one central island, has earned itself the reputation as one of Britain's most confusing junctions. In a post on the company's European X account, Tesla posted footage of one of their cars in a driver-supervised self-driving mode, navigating the roundabout with ease. Tesla's 'Full Self-Driving'-capable cars have not yet been given full approval in UK, despite the government fast-tracking test pilots of self-driving taxi and private hire cars from 2026.
