The Welsh Rugby Union have launched a staunch defence of their decision to play four warm-up matches ahead of the Rugby World Cup.
It’s a schedule which has come in for a fair amount of criticism, amid fears over players picking up injuries, with former Test stars JPR Williams and James Hook among those to voice their concerns.
In the past, Wales have played just three warm-up games, but this time around they have been presented with back-to-back fixtures against both England and Ireland.
Complaints about the expanded programme increased after Gareth Anscombe was ruled out of the World Cup after suffering serious knee ligament damage in the opening match at Twickenham.
And Wales head coach Warren Gatland has said criticism over the schedule was “fair” and “warranted”.
But now, ahead of the third match, at home to Ireland, WRU chief executive Martyn Phillips has given the governing body’s side of the story.
He insists the decision wasn’t financially motivated and maintains it was the right one.
“The interesting thing on that is, to my knowledge, all of the teams are playing four games,” he said.
“It’s a bit like the Lions where how many games you have before that first Test is critical.
“And, if you talk to the players, they would say they really, really felt it after the Twickenham game, having not played for 10 or 12 weeks.
“There is no substitute for playing and those decisions are made in conjunction with the coaches.
“You are always going to play three, so you are only really saying are we going to play three or four?
“The decision was made to play four. As I look it today, it still feels like the right decision.”
Phillips continued: “It wouldn’t make any difference to me whether there are three or four financially, because we are only ever playing two home games. We are not making any more money with four matches.
“I was very relaxed about it with Warren to say do you want to play three or four because I knew I was going to be playing two of those at home.
“That agreement was made some time ago.
“Because of the way the World Cup draw panned out, we were able to play Ireland and England home and away.
“If we’d had England in the same pool as us, we wouldn’t have been playing them at all.
“We might have been playing Ireland home and away, along with Scotland and Italy.”
He concluded: “Is the June-July concert window critical to the finances of the Welsh Rugby Union?
“Absolutely and I don’t see a way where they won’t be. Those are commercial imperatives for us.
“Is three or four warm-up games a commercial imperative? It genuinely isn’t.”
