(Reuters) – Players at professional clubs in Wales face salary cuts from the 2024/25 season, but a verbal agreement is in place for a new six-year deal for local teams after weeks of tension between the Professional Rugby Board (PRB) and the players’ association.
The Welsh Rugby Union met with senior members of the national team squad on Wednesday to outline the new terms and what effect it will have on players at the four regional franchises, Cardiff Rugby, Scarlets, Dragons and Ospreys.
Local media reported that Welsh players could go on strike ahead of their home Six Nations clash against England on Feb. 25 if the impasse continued.
There are concerns over job losses, salary cuts and player welfare.
“The new agreement offers a complete funding package to the professional game in Wales, but it does come with financial limitations which will directly affect salary negotiations,” PRB chair Malcolm Wall said in a news release from the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU).
“The cold facts are that the WRU and clubs have been paying salaries that their businesses cannot afford, so the new agreement establishes a new framework for contract negotiations.”
A salary cap will be put in place for 2024/25 that is lower than the 2023/24 season.
“There is a stipulation that all current contracts will be honoured, but these businesses must return to a sustainable footing in order for the success we all crave to follow,” Wall said.
“The average salary of a Welsh professional rugby player under the new framework will be around £100,000-per-year.
“The PRB accepts that some better funded English and French clubs are paying more, but this is where we must set the mark of sustainability in Wales.”
The WRU said the next step was to “confirm the deal and confirm these contracts and we will be moving as swiftly as we possibly can to that point”.
Ospreys lock Bradley Davies, who has been capped 66 times by Wales, did not rule out a strike at a news conference earlier on Wednesday.
“It’s obviously an option in any job,” he told reporters. “But none of the boys want that. They don’t want to strike. They want this to stop and us to move forward and compete with other teams and get better.
“I wouldn’t want to (strike), but if that was the only thing that had to be done, then I guess I would have to.”
(Reporting by Nick Said, editing by Ed Osmond)
