Wales chief looks for Celtic League solution

WRU chief executive Steve Lewis will do everything in his power to get the Scots and Irish to resurrect a full-blown Celtic League campaign for next season.

Lewis will lead the Welsh delegation at a showdown meeting in Heathrow Airport today in which the future of the professional club game in three Celtic countries will be on the line. When the countries last met in May it ended in acrimony with the Scots and Irish throwing Wales out of the tournament and agreeing to play among themselves next season.

They were unhappy at the way Wales had successfully negotiated a deal with the RFU to take part in an Anglo-Welsh Cup competition over the next four years.

“The first principle is the WRU and its four regions are totally committed to the Celtic League. It is our bread and butter, our main ranking tournament for European competition,” said Lewis.

“We believe the format of the last two seasons, where there are 20 fixtures on a home and away basis, is near perfect to meet the needs of everyone in the three nations.

“However, in the early part of this year we were faced with the prospect of being dragged into a Rainbow Cup involving South African provinces, and then excluded from meetings that tried to get four Italian teams into a reshaped Celtic League played home or away.

“We had to find ways of increasing and improving the fixture lists for our regions.

“What has come out of those negotiations is a four-year deal to play in a cross-border cup competition with England’s top dozen clubs that will require five weekends in the season - three for pool matches and two for semi-finals and a final.

“The Scots and the Irish say they cannot find a way to accommodate those five weekends. We will be presenting them with further plans that should allow them to find a solution.”