Welsh Rugby Union chiefs will face member clubs at today’s annual general meeting, in the wake of Wales’ brutal defeat to South Africa on SaturdayCollier-Keywood will face the WRU’s member clubs at today’s AGM(Image: Kian Abdullah/Huw Evans Agency)

Welsh Rugby Union bosses are set to be grilled at their annual general meeting less than 24 hours after Wales’ humiliating 73-0 defeat at the hands of South Africa.

Steve Tandy’s side were like lambs to the slaughter in Cardiff on Saturday afternoon as they were completely torn apart by the reigning world champion Springboks, who scored 11 tries with no response to inflict Wales’ heaviest ever home defeat on another dark day for the national team. You can read how the humiliation unfolded here.

The WRU had faced criticism in the build-up to the match, due to the fixture being organised outside of World Rugby’s official international window. The timing meant that both sides were missing players for the match, with Wales forced to field almost an entirely new team to the one that impressed against New Zealand last weekend after 13 players left the squad to rejoin their club sides in England and France.

While the fixture’s validity was defended by the likes of Siya Kolisi, the scheduling faced widespread criticism even ahead of kick-off as former Welsh international Richie Rees said it was simply “not worth playing”, with similar comments being made by those in the game after the full-time whistle sounded on Saturday.

Of course, the humiliating defeat comes against a bleak backdrop of a Wales side that has lost 20 of their last 22 Test matches and controversial plans to radically alter the landscape of the Welsh professional game, with the four regions set to be cut to three.

WRU chair Richard Collier-Keywood, who was in attendance at the Principality Stadium yesterday, will now face the union’s member clubs at today’s AGM, which is being held at the Vale Hotel.

In the wake of such a brutal result, the state of the men’s national team will certainly be on the agenda, as will the women’s side who crashed out of this year’s Women’s Rugby World Cup without a win to their name.

However, the most pertinent matter will be the WRU’s plans to cut down to three professional teams with room for only one team in the west of Wales. The union has given the four regions until the end of the calendar year to agree upon their futures as it targets reaching consensus.

If the regions should not reach that, a tender process will then commence to whittle four down to three, with WRU director of rugby and elite performance Dave Reddin hoping to reach a decision on who the three remaining teams will be by the end of the current season.

The AGM comes after Reddin appeared on TNT Sports’ coverage of the South Africa clash on Saturday and explained his plan to cut the number of Welsh professional sides to three, while admitting that the final outcome of getting rid of a team could potentially run into next summer or beyond.

He added that the union may have to find another solution for entering a fourth team into the URC for next season as, if the axe were to fall on a team shortly before next season was due to start, for example, any cut side continuing to compete would be, in his words, emotionally “very difficult”.

To meet contractual commitments, the union may still need to enter a fourth team, as a permanent replacement for them would likely not be in place at that stage and an axed side with no future is unlikely to be put forward. That could lead to the WRU calling on semi-pro sides in Wales, or another team from outside of Wales filling the void at short notice.

“We’ve got to provide a solution for that fourth team,” Reddin said. “There’s a number of things in play, whether that’s a team from outside Wales or a solution from inside Wales.

“You know, clearly if that (fourth team) was to be a team that exists now but is, if you like, being wound down, that emotionally I think would be very, very difficult. So we’re cognisant of that but looking at other solutions as well.”

“The emotion’s huge,” he added as he acknowledged the difficulty of the situation for clubs and supporters. “I mean if it was my club that was disappearing you’d feel that and even more so if that’s the club that you’ve supported since you were tiny – so we’re not taking any of these decisions without any thought to that.

“We’ve also got to look to the future, you know, and look at where we are as a nation, how much talent we’ve got, and if we truly want to compete at the top level, then we have look at how do we be excellent. We don’t have the talent to support four teams at the level we want to and compete. I think we can with three.”

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