A radical rugby shake-up is being mooted that would see the Guinness PRO14 link up with the highly vaunted English Premiership in end of season play-offs.
There is talk of a grand final involving the best teams from the two leagues.
The proposals have been mooted at the highest level as new backers become involved in the PRO14.
It's clearly early doors, a lot of talking would be required and it may not come to fruition.
Then again...
Mark Orders takes a look at how it might work and potentially give many Welsh fans what they crave in terms of extra games against England's biggest clubs.
PREVIOUS PLANS
There were more than 50,000 empty seats at the old National Stadium when Pontypridd faced Neath in the Champions Challenge encounter which launched the 1996-97 season in Wales.
Not every new-fangled idea captures the imagination.
Few seemed to care about that particular one, with only 3,000 turning up. There had even been grumbles about ticket prices for a match that saw the previous season’s cup winners take on the league champions.
Rugby's version of football's Charity Shield.
Ponty won at a canter, with Neath among those who didn’t seem to have much interest.
The original plan had been for Bath to face Neath, the league champions of their countries, at Twickenham, and Pontypridd to face Leicester in Cardiff, only for the Rugby Football Union to pull the plug on such matches.
Had they gone ahead, there may not have been 3,000 empty seats in each stadium.
Fixtures with English clubs — for so long they have been seen as the absolute must for leading teams in Wales, notwithstanding that the Welsh Rugby Union opted not to pursue an option for an Anglo-Welsh League a couple of decades ago.
Those running the show were unconvinced that what was being proposed gave sufficient respect to Welsh rugby.
One plan was for five out of 30 places to be allocated to Wales, two in the top flight, three in the tier below. Glanmor Griffiths, WRU chairman at the time, called it “demeaning”.
That was that. Fork in the road.
Wales went their way, England took another route.
It wouldn’t be accurate to suggest the road Welsh clubs and then regions have since been on has proven especially popular with the public.
But, lo and behold, change is in the air.
The private equity company CVC are said to be close to backing up their deal with Premiership Rugby in England by acquiring a stake in the Guinness PRO14. The Times report that the move could lead to an annual Grand Final between the winners of the two competitions.
A proposal to combine the two leagues for end-of-season play-offs is also said to among those being kicked around.
This is quite radical stuff, a British and Irish end to the league seasons across the home nations and Italy, with South African interest as well.
Dreams along similar lines have turned to nothing before now.
Will this one prove any different? There seems a decent chance it will.
WHAT IS BEING SUGGESTED
Fresh from shelling out around £220 million for a 27 percent stake in Premiership Rugby in England, CVC Capital Partners are said to be close to acquiring a share in the Guinness PRO14.
The PRO14 package would cost the company around £120 million.
The Times report the PRO14 has stopped negotiating with rival firms and agreed the price, structure and terms of sale to CVC.
Discussions are said to have taken place over the possibility of the annual Grand Final between the Premiership champions and the PRO14 winners. There is also a strong suggestion the two leagues could combine for end-of-term play-offs.
That would see the top sides in each league matched against other, potentially in quarter-finals, before semi-finals and a final.
There is also reported to have been talk of starting up a World Club Cup competition every four years between Europe and Super Rugby’s best.
If they come to fruition, these could be real opportunities for the Scarlets, Ospreys, Cardiff Blues and Dragons.
The deal for the PRO14 is set to be concluded over the next six weeks.
It is suggested CVC will have no ownership over the sporting side of the competition and be unable to influence the laws of the game. The era of the 10-point try is not coming our way any time soon, then.
WILL THIS HAPPEN AND WHAT ARE THE POTENTIAL CONSEQUENCES?
Those of a conservative disposition are likely to feel distinctly queasy, because radical change does appear on the way.
CVC are not buying up stakes in rugby simply to leave it as it is.
After the company bought into Formula 1, the sport underwent significant alterations. OK, there were no blindfolds for drivers and brakes removed, but the calendar was added to and many races took place far away from established European bases. The sport saw a major departure to subscription TV and profit was pursued at every level.
The response from some might doubtless be summed up in two words: so what? Nothing stays the same and rugby needs extra cash.
But CVC’s involvement in F1 didn’t meet with universal approval.
Bob Fernley, who was then deputy team principal of Force India, accused CVC during that time of "raping the sport".
In 2016, he summed up CVC's tie-up with F1 in less-than-flattering terms, saying: "All their actions have been taken to extract as much money from the sport as possible and put as little in as possible."
So if they are involved in rugby, there will be significant alterations.
How much the sport will benefit will depend on the size of the stakes CVC take out. A 25 percent holding in the PRO14, for instance, would mean that for every fiver CVC makes the league would make £20.
WOULD WHAT’S BEING PROPOSED GO DOWN WELL WITH THE WELSH PUBLIC?
The vast majority would relish seeing potential Anglo-Welsh clashes in a play-off format.
There again, Welsh sides would have to earn the right to be involved.
They haven’t exactly been stone-cold certainties for top-four finishes in the PRO14 since play-off matches were introduced in 2009-10.
But if such games did come about there seems little doubt they would be popular.
Rewind to Cardiff playing their first home match in the rebel season of friendlies they and Swansea embarked upon in 1998-99.
The Arms Park that day saw 10,021 spectators pack in to watch the Blue and Blacks face Saracens. As someone else perceptively noted at the time, that was 1,821 more than attended the entire Welsh top-flight programme the previous weekend.
English clubs bring supporters with them to away games. They bring memories of ancient Anglo-Welsh rivalries. Above all, they bring interest, which is a commodity that isn’t always guaranteed when Southern Kings or Zebre are in town.
A world club cup competition? It’s probably a bit early for Dragons fans to contemplate hosting the Crusaders at Rodney Parade. Let’s get the British and Irish stuff sorted first.
HOW WILL THE PROPOSED CHANGES IMPACT UPON PLAYER WELFARE?
There are understandable concerns about the impact changes in the sport might have on player welfare in the years ahead.
And despite the honeyed words of many, the demands in certain corners of rugby’s empire do seem to be piling up.
This will need to be watched closely, for the sport has been transformed out of all recognition in the professional era and has long ago become uncompromisingly collision-based.
But the word leaking through is that any tinkering with commercial structures will simply be designed to give matches extra value.
Let’s see how this one pans out.
VERDICT
Winds of change appear to be heading the way of rugby in this part of the world.
Such winds stand to bring with them extra money for clubs, regions and unions and the proposed changes to competition structures will be welcomed by many.
Supporters this side of the Severn Bridge have long craved more games against English opposition, so many will doubtless cheer the prospect of extra Anglo-Welsh games.
That said, what’s being proposed stops some way short of a full-blown British league. And quite how many additional Anglo-Welsh games there will be in the calendar remains to be seen. Regions have to qualify for knockout matches first, something that no-one should take for granted given what’s happened this season.
Player welfare will also need to add up to more than mere promises.
And there should be a realisation that CVC are not contemplating investing in rugby because those at the helm still can’t get over Gareth Edwards’ try for the Barbarians in 1973 and are still enraptured by Cliff Morgan’s TV commentary.
Whatever, it appears time to fasten seat belts.
Rugby looks set for an interesting ride.
