{"id":317228,"date":"2025-12-15T13:21:08","date_gmt":"2025-12-15T13:21:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/317228\/"},"modified":"2025-12-15T13:21:08","modified_gmt":"2025-12-15T13:21:08","slug":"jac-morgans-ospreys-exit-confirmed-in-seismic-blow-to-welsh-rugby","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/317228\/","title":{"rendered":"Jac Morgan’s Ospreys exit confirmed in seismic blow to Welsh rugby"},"content":{"rendered":"

The departure of the Wales captain is a massive blow for the Ospreys and Welsh rugbyJac Morgan of Wales(Image: Huw Evans Picture Agency Ltd)<\/p>\n

Jac Morgan will leave Welsh rugby at the end of the season to join English club Gloucester.<\/p>\n

The Ospreys<\/a> have today confirmed the Wales star will leave the club at the end of the season to take up a contract with Gloucester. WalesOnline revealed last week the Cherry & Whites were in pole position to sign the Wales openside and now the deal has been completed.<\/p>\n

This will come as a hammer blow for both the Ospreys and the professional game in Wales as a whole.<\/p>\n

The uncertainty surrounding the future structure of Welsh rugby is driving players away from Wales and more are likely to follow Morgan out of the exit door.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was an extremely difficult decision for me to make, but I hope our supporters can understand the reasoning behind me wanting to pursue a new challenge,” said Morgan.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Ospreys is a club that will always hold a special place in my heart, there are some incredible people here that have played an important part in getting me to where I am now, and I will never forget that.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am looking forward to the new challenge ahead, but until then I will be working hard to get back to full fitness and giving 100% for the team until the end of the season.\u201d<\/p>\n

Over the next couple of years the Welsh Rugby Union wants to reduce the number of professional teams in Wales from four to three, with the Ospreys and Scarlets<\/a> in danger of disappearing.<\/p>\n

The idea behind reducing to three teams was to concentrate talent in order for the remaining teams to be more competitive on the field.<\/p>\n

Losing a player of Morgan’s quality, arguably Wales’ only world-class player, is a huge dent in both the Ospreys’ and the WRU’s future plans.<\/p>\n

Welsh rugby could realistically find itself down to three teams with its best players playing in England and France.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think I speak for everyone at the club when I say Jac will be sorely missed,” head coach Mark Jones said. “He is a tremendous player and leader that always gives his all when he is on the pitch.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a club, we have always done our upmost to keep our most talented players, and that was certainly was the case with Jac.<\/p>\n

“Unfortunately, these matters are sometimes taken out of your hands, especially under the current circumstances in Welsh rugby.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe respect his decision and wish him nothing but the best for the future, he will always be welcome back at the Ospreys.\u201d<\/p>\n

Morgan’s stock has risen significantly since playing a starring role in the British & Irish Lions’ series victory over Australia in the summer.<\/p>\n

The 25-year-old was one of the most sought-after players on the market and had been heavily linked with a move to Saracens.<\/p>\n

But Gloucester have won the race to his signature.<\/p>\n

The Cherry & Whites have endured a tough start to the season with just one win so far in the Gallagher Prem as they lie ninth in the table.<\/p>\n

George Skivington will be hoping the signing of Morgan can help reinvigorate the club.<\/p>\n

Morgan will be joined to a strong Welsh contingent which includes Josh Hathaway, Freddie Thomas, Max Llewellyn, Deian Gwynne and Caio James with Tomos Williams set to leave the club to join Saracens.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The departure of the Wales captain is a massive blow for the Ospreys and Welsh rugbyJac Morgan of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":317229,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[6824,5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-317228","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-jac-morgan","9":"tag-rugby","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-uk","12":"tag-united-kingdom","13":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/317228","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=317228"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/317228\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/317229"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=317228"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=317228"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=317228"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}