{"id":766200,"date":"2026-09-10T13:50:09","date_gmt":"2026-09-10T13:50:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/766200\/"},"modified":"2026-09-10T13:50:09","modified_gmt":"2026-09-10T13:50:09","slug":"dragons-under-pressure-in-urc-after-avoiding-welsh-rugby-union-cut","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/766200\/","title":{"rendered":"Dragons under pressure in URC after avoiding Welsh Rugby Union cut"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dragons will chase on-field progress in yet another season that will be played amid off-field uncertainty in Wales.<\/p>\n

Blumberg admitted there was “an air of tension” between the professional clubs due to years of uncertainty and wrangling with the WRU.<\/p>\n

Dragons are safe but still do not want a cut.<\/p>\n

“We’ve consistently said that four teams should be a way forward. We stand by that,” said Blumberg.<\/p>\n

“Clearly, with the WRU now saying that three is the direction of travel, we’ll be sitting on our hands for a minute, taking a deep breath on the basis that we’ve got some security for the first time in two and a half years.”<\/p>\n

The controversial proposals have led to calls for the governing body’s board to resign<\/a> and prompted legal action.<\/a><\/p>\n

The WRU has said the process to decide the framework for the final decision will begin in December and finish before the end of the upcoming campaign.<\/p>\n

Scarlets managing director Jon Daniels has insisted there are no plans for a merger<\/a> with Ospreys and called for greater transparency from the WRU.<\/p>\n

“It’s not going to be straightforward, whatever they do. There are going to be legal battles,” said Blumberg.<\/p>\n

“However, if you are the chair or CEO of the Union and you’ve only got X amount of money \u2013 and that’s a contentious point itself \u2013 and you are going to support three teams moving forward and one has to go, then at some stage you have got to make that happen.<\/p>\n

“It has taken so long to get here, time that has been filled by so much nonsense and a lot of headaches.<\/p>\n

“There has been no solution and no ending, and that continues. The WRU has said they are going to provide data as to why they are going to three.<\/p>\n

“If that is the direction of travel \u2013 and it’s not our preference \u2013 then we go ahead, organise the three-team agreement and move forward.”<\/p>\n

The WRU, who initially wanted to cut from four to two, insist finances make it impossible to field four competitive professional sides.<\/p>\n

Blumberg said: “Are we making the most of every opportunity to maximise revenue? Are we managing all our costs as efficiently as possible?<\/p>\n

“If that is being done and we are at a point where we can only afford X number of teams then the conversation is a really horrible one, but we need to have it.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dragons will chase on-field progress in yet another season that will be played amid off-field uncertainty in Wales.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":766201,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-766200","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-rugby","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/766200","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=766200"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/766200\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/766201"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=766200"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=766200"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=766200"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}