Wales’s four regions are expecting a crowd of 70,000 for the Judgement Day double-header at the Principality Stadium on Saturday as the cooperation between the quartet and the Welsh Rugby Union takes root after wasted years of confrontation.
The regions have been given access to the WRU’s 700,000-name database to help sell tickets not just for the double-header, in which Cardiff Blues take on Ospreys before Newport Gwent Dragons face the Scarlets, but all home matches.
“What the ticket sales show is the great enthusiasm and engagement there is for the game in Wales,” said Mark Davies, the chief executive of Professional Rugby Wales, the umbrella organisation of the regions.
“In the past, that was undermined by the negativity that was in the game but our relationship with the WRU is now excellent and Saturday is an excellent example of how we are working for our mutual benefit.
“We know that the regions and our league [the Pro12] have to compete with the greater riches of England’s Premiership and France’s Top 14, but I believe we are closing the gap, not so much in terms of financial resources but in the way we are being cleverer in the way we go about things and more joined-up.”
Tickets sales passed 62,000 at the start of the week, ensuring that last year’s record of 52,000 for Judgement Day would fall. The flat-rate cost of £10 has helped but the regions have seen an increase in attendances for derby matches this season and are looking to use Saturday as a means to boost gates for matches against sides from the other three countries in the Pro12.
“While the financial differences between the regions and the club’s in France and England remain, their audience is growing,” Gareth Davies, the chairman of the WRU, said. “I was in Montpellier on Saturday for the European Challenge Cup semi-final against Newport Gwent Dragons and their annual playing budget is €24m [£18.6m].
“I know that because I was sitting next to their owner and he told me. There is no way any of the regions can compete with that but the crowd was only 7,000 for a major semi-final at a club that is looking to become a powerhouse in French rugby. We have the interest in Wales, as the ticket sales for this weekend show, and regional rugby is on the up. The next step is to look at the Pro12 and see how we can take it to the next stage. We have to make it a bigger and better league to close the gap on France and England.”
The regions failed to provide a European Champions Cup quarter-finalist this year and, with two rounds of the Pro12 to go, only one of them looks likely to qualify for next season’s tournament. The Scarlets are the only Welsh side in the top six while Ospreys, the country’s main hope in the tournament this decade, need to win their remaining two matches and hope.
Steve Tandy, the Ospreys head coach, said: “It has been a disappointing season for us so far but it is not over and there is nothing like the passion of a derby game in front of a big crowd to get players going. Judgement Day is growing year on year and becoming one of the game’s great spectacles.”
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