Warren Gatland hasn't ruled out moving to scrap the 60-cap rule so that Wales don't 'shoot themselves in the foot' ahead of a potential exodus of talent ahead of this year's World Cup.
The 60-cap rule precludes players with less than 60 appearances for Wales from playing for their country. The uncertainty over budgets for next season, with the four Welsh professional sides expected to be working with streamlined squads, could lead to plenty of Welsh players looking for contracts outside of the country.
Dragons lock Will Rowlands has already announced his departure, with others likely to follow. Even players not out of contract, like Cardiff’s Josh Adams, could depart this summer for a transfer fee - such is the need for income in the Welsh game. You can read about Adams' future here.
“There is a possibility,” said Gatland when asked about more players leaving Wales. “I can’t blame players for exploring the options because there is a certain level of uncertainty in Welsh rugby at the moment, particularly for those who are out of contract.
“They need to think about their own personal situation and that’s perfectly understandable from my point of view. I’d love to make sure we keep our top players in Wales.
“I don’t know if we need to look at the 60-cap rule because at the moment is it fit for purpose with this much uncertainty in the game in Wales at the moment? We need to keep in perspective it’s still January at the moment. If you go back a number of years these contracts didn’t used to be discussed until March.
“With the advent of agents and them having more influence in the game, they tend to be done now a good 12 months out from when the contract is up. That has definitely been a big change in the game because players now tend to not get judged on their current season which is what we used to do in the past.
“I can understand that change because everyone is looking for certainty in terms of what’s happening on the pitch.”
Who will win the Six Nations? Vote in our poll below
Gatland elaborated further on whether a decision would be needed to be made on the future of the 60-cap rule. Calling for a pragmatic solution, he questioned what the point was in hindering the national team heading it I the tournament in France.
The Wales coach is also known to be monitoring Cory Hill and Jake Ball, who are both currently ineligible as they play in Japan.
“I think it’s a PRB decision,” he added. “I think it’s definitely something we need to talk about because when you look at the end of this year, there are three players who may not be available to us for the World Cup under the current regulations.
“We need to be pragmatic and it would be disappointing if some players miss out on the World Cup. Why shoot ourselves in the foot if we don’t need to?
“There has been so much turmoil in terms of getting the agreement sorted between the union and the regions. I think it would be a positive step moving forwards.”
During Gatland’s first spell in charge, there were similar moments of turbulence within the Welsh game to navigate.
During the 2019 Grand Slam campaign, he was forced to deal with the possibility of a merger between the Scarlets and Ospreys that overshadowed Wales’ penultimate fixture against Scotland. It’s those sorts of experiences that he’ll look to draw upon again.
“I think that one of the things we’ve done in the past is work incredibly hard as a group and we’ll continue to do that,” he said. “That’s tended to build a lot of confidence in the squad.
“There have been games in the past we’ve been able to hang in due to our fitness and we were able to grind out wins against quality opposition. I know this group will work hard.
“The thing about these Welsh boys is the never question you in terms of how hard they work. If you ask them to run through a brick wall, the answer they’ll give you is ‘What do you want us to do when we get the other side?’
“That’s definitely made my job easier in the past. We’ve got a new coaching group we need to embed in a short space of time and the important thing is we implement clarity about the way we want to coach the team.
“We need to all be singing off the same page to hopefully give us the best possible chance.”
Read more:
Wales star set to be ruled out of Six Nations as Gatland names replacement last picked six years ago
Welsh Rugby Union accused of 'toxic culture' as former employees go public
Jamie George incident sparks outrage and calls for investigation
