If you live outside Wales you may be unaware of the media phenomenon the 'Player Drain'. Effectively the problem exists because Wales are experiencing a golden age of Rugby, even beginning challenging the great side of the 70's over who should be remembered as the better side. A side that included, Barry John and Gareth Edwards no less. This should be a time of celebration for Wales, and every year at Springtime, it is.
The Six Nations is a Welsh competition more than any other, as the prices are raised each year by the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU), the home of Welsh Rugby will still sell out for every Six Nations game. However, in the Autumn the pockets of empty seats against the Southern hemisphere nations, notably Argentina, who you can argue are a far greater spectacle than going to watch the Italians visit in the Spring. It goes deeper than this however, many Welsh supporters, are merely Springtime supporters, they don't follow Rugby for the rest of the year. This has a trickle down effect and effects the buck stops with the four regions. Not enough people go to watch the games that involve the Scarlets, Dragons, Blues, or even the Ospreys at the magnificent Liberty Stadium. Therefore, the regions don't make enough money and subsequently can afford to pay their players less than the rich French and to a lesser extent English clubs. This is all basic economics. To illustrate my point, Jonny Sexton is reportedly on £600,000 a year contract at Racing Metro. The WRU have since pumped more money to the regions leaving them each £4.5 million to play with. A simple equation of Sexton x 15 - WRU pay structure = minus £4.5 million. Sexton, may not earn this and if he does, he may be anomaly, it was always going to take a good offer to prize him away from Leinster. However, I only put 15 players into this equation in reality this pay structure needs to support around a 40-50 strong squad. Therefore, the 'golden generation' is leaving Wales one by one, the leading Welsh players that departed this year, George North, Jamie Roberts and Danny Lydiate.
Now that anyone who did not understand the 'player drain' is up to speed, lets look towards the future. Good groups of players come in cycles, this is true of any sport and any number of factors can effect whether a talented person develops to their full potential. This current crop of Welsh internationals is merely the natural cycle that comes along every few years. This is not to say that there hasn't been a lot of hard work along the way, but there is no one reason for that many talented players being in the same generation, apart from luck. Now that we have this talent, and it is being exported to France and England the financial benefits to the regions in Wales is huge, for example the £200,000 the Scarlets received for George North. £200,000 for a team the size of the Dragons is a huge amount of money, and they also off loaded a top end wage earner, who played relatively few games for the region, due to his international commitments. I know this is not North's fault, but in terms of the regions alone they want to be paying players who will be there all year round. If we take this to its seemingly natural conclusion then, (unless the WRU stump up a lot of cash) say for arguments sake all they Welsh starting XV were playing overseas. The regions cannot afford to pay internationals from other countries to fill their squad. So they turn to youth, and this is were the international game becomes sustainable, Wales has enjoyed huge success over the last few years, as did England a 10 years ago but time passes players retire and there isn't quality to step in. If the regions play this hand right then they could make international success for Wales sustainable, and as I said above that's would 3 million people each spring want. Throughout the Welsh regions there is youth, Dan Bigger is only 23 and has passed 1000 Celtic League points this week due to game time since James Hook left for France, giving him the time to mature. He showed that maturity as he played all the way through the Six Nations last year due to an injury crisis at 10. Rhys Patchell is a similar case at the Cardiff Blues, only 20 but far and away first choice for the Blues and playing outstandingly because he's being given time to mature his game at regional level. Perhaps the most exciting player in Wales right now however, is Jordan Williams, only just turned 20, and can play anywhere in the back line. Rhys Priestland has already said in an interview with Rugby World that he is the "best young player he's ever seen", given only a year ago he was playing with George North, this boy must be special. We saw just what he can do on the weekend with a fantastic try against Edinburgh at 2.45 on that video. Jordan Williams didn't get a real chance last year with Giant George still in a Scarlets shirt, but since he has left for Northampton, Jordan Williams has shown what he can do and is developing as a player because of it.
In effect, we mustn't worry that all the best players are leaving Wales as there are plenty of young and very talented youth players coming through just waiting to become household names. On their performances at the moment, who would begrudge any of Patchell, Bigger and Williams places in the Autumn international squad. It is less losing your best players, more making room for more young talent. If you can afford three or four young players for on George North then that has to be good for the national set up.
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