The former Wales captain has long advocated the idea of an Anglo-Welsh competition

Warburton says Welsh teams should be “like a rat up a drainpipe” to join an Anglo-Welsh league if the opportunity arose(Image: Chris Fairweather/Huw Evans Agency)

Sam Warburton says Welsh teams should be “like a rat up a drainpipe” to enter an Anglo-Welsh league if the opportunity were to arise in the future, describing the United Rugby Championship (URC) as “a league of misfits” that fans don’t feel passionately about.

The former Wales captain has long advocated the idea of an Anglo-Welsh competition, admitting previously that Welsh rugby “needs the Premiership” after being left envious of the standard of product on offer across the border in England.

He also has a theory the WRU’s desire to be part of an Anglo Welsh in the longer term is a key factor in its plan to reduce teams, suggesting it is something they can’t be honest about at this stage.

Warburton is not alone in his call for a change of competition, with there being a huge support amongst fans in recent years for Wales’ four professional sides to leave the URC and join the Gallagher PREM. However, while a merger between the two leagues – which would have included an exclusive Anglo-Welsh conference – came close last season, it was ultimately voted against by two PRL member clubs.

Dave Reddin, the Welsh Rugby Union’s director of rugby and elite performance, has since said that an Anglo-Welsh league is “not on the table,” saying that the union “made a commitment to the URC and have to be faithful to that”.

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While the PREM is looking to expand from 10 to 12 teams after scrapping promotion and relegation from next season, sources suggest that the idea of an Anglo-Welsh league remains a non-starter until at least 2030, which is when the current English TV deal expires.

However, discussing the financial issues facing Welsh and English rugby on The Sports Agents podcast, Warburton again talked up the merits of Wales’ club sides one day joining the PREM.

“I’ve always been a massive advocate of Anglo Welsh and it’s not because the quality of the league that the Welsh teams play in is poor,” he told hosts Gabby Logan and Mark Chapman. “I think the quality is very good.

“South Africans provide brilliant domestic teams, Ireland have always provided great domestic teams and Glasgow Warriors have been brilliant at the minute. So it’s not the quality, it’s how much do the fans care. It’s about the product.

“[The URC] is a league of misfits, as I’ve called it, and our fans, they’re not passionate if a South African team or an Irish team or Scottish team comes to play. But Cardiff City and Swansea City in football play in the English system.

“Now, Cardiff City and Swansea will not be getting 25,000 people – no disrespect – if they’re playing in the Welsh Premiership in football. They’re getting 25,000 because they’re playing in a product which is significantly better. No offence to the Welsh teams, but that’s just a fact.

Admitting that there was “a bit of a catch-22,” Warburton added: “What the Welsh teams need to do is they need to be good enough to add value to that league as well. We need them, but do they need us?

“If we’re really competitive, then I think we’ve got a conversation. Will they allow four teams to come in? That’s maybe why the reduction needs to happen. This is why I think maybe the WRU can’t be honest. If they go, look, Anglo Welsh might be on the table, but only for two or three teams. It will never be on the table for four.

“But if there was a possibility that Welsh teams could go in, which I believe there’s obviously been discussions about it, then from a Welsh perspective they should be like a rat up a drainpipe to try and get into that Anglo Welsh [league].”

The WRU has come under fire from all angles due to its plans to cut the number of professional men’s clubs from four to three, with the union also in the process of selling Cardiff Rugby to Ospreys owners Y11 Sports & Media.

The governing body is facing legal action from Swansea Council as uncertainty remains over the future of the Ospreys, while it has also been forced to call an extraordinary general meeting after the Six Nations concludes, with chair Richard Collier-Keywood facing a vote of no confidence.

Having watched the situation unfold, Warburton said Wales “is a fickle place”, with “people want[ing] change unless it happens to their clubs”, as he explained: “Regarding off the field, the chairman was voted in by obviously a good proportion to make change. How many times were we doing these podcasts when people [were] like there needs to be change, doing the same thing is insanity’?

“Now they’re enforcing change, everyone’s like ‘let’s stay the same, let’s keep four’. The thing with Wales is, it’s a fickle place. People are saying we need to be aligned, but what they actually mean is let’s stay the same and the WRU give us more money. That’s not being aligned, that’s not enforcing change. People want change unless it happens to their club.”

Having left the Cardiff Rugby board in April last year, the former flanker added that he had previously suggested merging the region with the Dragons to “take one for Wales” and prevent a team being cut altogether. However, while the idea received some support, it ultimately never materialised.

“I’ve been privy to some of this information when I was on the board at Cardiff – since the late noughties, they’ve had something like three or four independent financial reviews,” he said. “Now, I’m not saying these are gospel because these independent financial reviews, they don’t understand maybe the landscape of the country and it’s just looking pretty much at a black and white P&L [profit and loss statement]. Now, they’ve all said [Wales has] only got the money to sustain three teams.

“This is what the data came back [saying]. Wales have four teams, if you’re comparing to England, to every one of England’s – meaning that England basically have the players that we provide in our four teams per one club. So, we’re hugely diluted, which is why we need to come down. We don’t have the same finances and we don’t have the same player pool.

“I’ll be honest, when I was on the Cardiff board, I remember I was in a meeting and there was discussion about going down to three. I remember saying, well, why don’t we merge with the Dragons and be the East team? Let’s take one for Wales,” Warburton added. “If it means saving the Ospreys and Scarlets, I think merging is better than just cutting one out, so, why don’t we merge, double our budget and win Europe as well?

“The coach at the time was pretty keen on that and so was the financial director, but a couple of significant people didn’t want that to happen. I thought, now, I’m not burying Cardiff, we can super pump Cardiff at the tier below and Newport – Black and Amber Newport, Black and Blue Cardiff. And I’ve said publicly we need to bring back Neath, Llanelli, Pontypridd, all these great historic rugby towns.

“So you wouldn’t lose Cardiff but, for the greater good of Welsh rugby, if we have to go down to three – because four isn’t financially sustainable – I’m like I’ll take one for Welsh rugby, I’ll do that. But unfortunately some people didn’t want to do it because it affects their club directly.”

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