Another goes

[GT1]

Now it's Roberts packing his bags!
http://www.planetrugby.com/story/0,2588 ... 63,00.html

[fleabane]

The Blues reckon Roberts is the best paid player in the UK!

Rob Howley spoke about Roberts yesterday, and about playing for Wales, or playing abroad, making his point by dropping Phillips from the 9 shirt.

It may make sense for an older player to take on a new challenge and top up his pension playing in France after an international career (a la Wilko), but for Roberts the money seems to be more important than his country. Shame for Wales, but a decision Roberts may come to regret.

[drc_007]

There was also some mention that a trip to France might be better for his medical career now that he has qualified as a doctor. Certainly staying in one place is not regarded as a good idea in medicine.

Actually I think the Blues said the offer they made to him would have made him the best paid player.

[Jose]

Don't know why the Welsh (regions) don't see sense and start voting with their pockets for the Anglo-French options re the HC, a competitive Rabo league and more cash. It's clear the current structure is killing them and the regions desperately need to find a way to generate some cash as the WRU doesn't seem to be willing to fund the regions to any meaningful extent. Unless the WRU plan is to drive the regions right to the wall and then offer the best players central contracts when the regions have nothing left? Wouldn't put it past the WRU.

It is not good to have the Welsh regions so weak, and very bizarre when there is such a strong pool of Welsh playing talent.

[4071]

"As an example with our recent game against Leinster, the IRFU pay for fourteen of their players and additionally fund the province for the remaining players in excess of 4 million euros. Compared to the cost of the Cardiff Blues squad that's almost double."

"You'll never win the Heineken Cup with that margin to compete with."

Funny that for season after season the English clubs have been suggesting that the restrictive salary cap makes it harder to compete in Europe, only for the likes of the Welsh and Irish to dismiss the idea and claim that the English teams just weren't good enough.

But now the Welsh are struggling for money and can't keep up with the big-spending Irish, suddenly they have changed their tune and reckon that what you spend on your squad impacts your chances of winning the HC...


Yeah... funny that...


No sympathy. The Welsh regions are where they are because they spent far too much on their players - the Blues were spending over 5m a couple of seasons ago, and that was FAR more than could have been justified by their income.

If they hadn't been over-spending to chase Euro glory then they wouldn't need to cut back so much now.

[4071]

Don't know why the Welsh (regions) don't see sense and start voting with their pockets for the Anglo-French options re the HC, a competitive Rabo league and more cash.

I have said elsewhere that they will eventually be forced to do exactly that.

Right now, there's a strong Celtic block lined up against the English, but they NEED a strong and fully representative HC to survive. Without the English and French, they would fall apart. The Irish provinces - because of their funding arrangements with the IRFU - are a little more protected, but the Welsh regions are more independant from the WRU and would have to make pragmatic financial decisons to surivive.

A proposed Anglo-French breakaway competition would very quickly become merged with the Anglo-Welsh as well, as the Welsh regions would need the income and they aren't getting it from the Rabo12.

The Scots would likely follow and eventually a full European competition would be re-formed.

I would assume that - despite the rhetoric and the breast-beating from the Rabo representatives and the ERC - this is pretty well understood. An Anglo-French alliance would be the most powerful bloc in European rugby. Though ultimately, only the French league is strong enough to survive in its present form without European competition at all.

[fortysix]

Lets imagine you are nearing the end of your career, just like a journeyman from Bath did recently and a club from Paris comes in with an offer to double your salary for a couple of years...
Paris versus Cardiff, or Leicester for that matter--its a no brainer !!!

[4071]

Lets imagine you are nearing the end of your career, just like a journeyman from Bath did recently and a club from Paris comes in with an offer to double your salary for a couple of years...
Paris versus Cardiff, or Leicester for that matter--its a no brainer !!!

Toulon, please.

Paris is alright, but it's a bit grubby and the Parisians are ####holes.


Not sure how this is relevant to a 26-year old in the middle of his career, though...

[physiodan]

It may make sense for an older player to take on a new challenge and top up his pension playing in France after an international career (a la Wilko), but for Roberts the money seems to be more important than his country. Shame for Wales, but a decision Roberts may come to regret.

I don't disagree with this statement but Rugby is a short career, and if you can fill your pension pot between 25-28 and then return to his homeland of Wales to finsh his career than I am sure he will be happy. You cannot predict what is coming round the corner and perhaps he wants a chance at the HC before he retires.

Wales' Loss and Roberts' Monetary gain!

[CitizenSmiff]

It'll be interesting to see how long the WRU's tough stance on non-domestic players lasts when they're getting hammered because they've got teenagers filing in for the likes of Roberts. I'd agree that 26 is on the young side to go chasing gold-plated glory but I have to be honest, I'm the same age and if somebody offered me twice the money to do my job in Paris I'd be on the Eurostar faster than I could type this paragraph.

[jgriffin]

Roberts is on a triple-win: better money, better career prospects, better rugby prospects.
I often bemoan the damage that the Rabo has done to Welsh rugby, and think how good a Premiership that included Welsh clubs would have been for both the rugby and the club finances.
The WRU have been shooting themselves in the foot so long I doubt they have more than stumps on either leg.

[Jose]

That's the bit I don't get, why the Scots and Welsh let themselves be dragged along supporting a structure and status quo which is helping kill their game, and only really benefits the Irish (due to their central contracts and substantial tax breaks). I genuinely believe that their interests are much more closely aligned to the French and English, as they are still attempting to have some form of clubs/regions which are not centrally owned and run.

Danger for the French and English is if you have Welsh and Scots go down the Irish route (along with NZ and Oz) and have too many major nations obsessed with the international game and with a vested interest in killing off the club/regional game wherever it has any strength or viability.

[Daveyboy]

I doubt that Jamie Roberts will practise medicine in France - I suspect that he will put his medical career on hold.

UK Medical Graduates have to complete a full-time 2 year Foundation Training Programme after graduation in order to obtain a licence to practise and achieve full registration with the General Medical Council. He won't have that facility in France.