When it comes to Welsh rugby Nigel Davies has been there and done it. The man from Trimsaran won 29 caps for Wales and represented Llanelli 498 times in arguably their most successful era. Now, Davies is on a mission to change Welsh rugby’s fortunes from the inside, as he tells Steffan Thomas.
Since Nigel Davies’ retirement he has experienced both the professional and community levels of Welsh rugby having coached Wales and the Scarlets while also working with Ebbw Vale and Merthyr in the semi-professional Welsh Premiership and being Chairman of Usk Juniors, a community sports club for nearly three years.
Having experienced both ends of the barrel Davies is clear on one thing, Welsh rugby must pay greater respect to the community clubs or the game will slowly die. Rugby in Wales is going through a turbulent period with Covid-19 having financially decimated the game at all levels.
And Davies is adamant he is right man to lead Welsh rugby through these uncertain times as he competes with former internationals Gareth Davies and Ieuan Evans for a seat on the council of the Welsh Rugby Union, with the possibility of becoming the Union’s next chairman.
“I believe all the candidates are worthy but have completely different backgrounds and experience with mine being that I am the only candidate that’s been involved in the heart of the game for the last 25 years,” said Davies.
“I’ve been involved in the professional game, international game, Premiership level and also community level. My time in the game has allowed me a clear and detailed understanding and knowledge base of how our game works from top to bottom and believe that we have to look at the game as a whole in Wales to understand how each part effects the other as it does.
“The community game is the foundation of the game in Wales and for too long it has not been a priority of the WRU and this must change for the long term good of clubs, communities and our National game. The clubs are the ones who work hard to bring people into the game and they develop players, coaches, referees, physios, committee members and supporters all of who are vital for the existence of our game.
“The top end of the game benefit from that. There’s nothing more rewarding than seeing a Scott Williams coming through the ranks in his community club, playing professional rugby and then going on to play for the Scarlets and Wales.”
Current chairman of the WRU Gareth Davies, who is attempting to extend his six year reign, has supported the splitting of the community and professional games. But Davies believes this does not fully consider the implications and insists the success of the regions is in the hands of the community clubs.
He said: “Although the community and professional game have different needs to understand where the WRU priorities should be you must look at how they work together as they are intrinsically linked.
“Both the community and pro game have different needs. Having the Professional Rugby Board and the Community Rugby Board to govern those different areas is fine but I don’t think you can actually isolate how important one is to the other.
“We’ve had a lot coming from the union around how important the professional game, particularly the international game, is in terms of generating income which then supports the rest of the game.
“Quite frankly unless we had all the clubs actually bringing players into the game and developing players there would be no professional game. I looked at the WRU figures and when you look at the professional game it gets about £35 million for the four regions and the 300 affiliates get £4.5M directly to them and this now includes the Premiership clubs.
“It’s a fantastic return on investment from the community game from the WRU point of view. Also, when you take the £4.5 million away from the £11.5 million, that is ringfenced for the community game” that leaves around £7 million in cost to run the community game.
“Where is this money being spent and is it directly improving the situation of the community clubs as it should. We must ensure that these costs are aligned to the support that our clubs need and they see a direct benefit from it which currently many do not.”
The future of the Cardiff Blues, Dragons, Ospreys and Scarlets has always been a controversial talking point in Welsh rugby. Professional rugby in Wales has always been financially vulnerable and that vulnerability has increased tenfold due to Covid-19.
And with the four regions unlikely to have any crowds until 2021 at the earliest Davies has pledged to set out a plan for the future of the professional game.
He said: “At the moment it’s a big struggle for our regions. I think there was a lot of uncertainty before the pandemic around our regional model and how it works.
“The income I’d imagine will at least be halved bearing in mind that 80 per cent of their income comes from international rugby and they are not seeing that at the moment. What I do know is that it’s got to work for the good of the game in Wales and it’s also got to work for the rest of the game in Wales.
“One of my issues is that I think the game in Wales needs to be completely realigned and we need to look at what our priorities are, who our key stakeholders are and what their needs and issues are. Generally the regions have been very successful in terms of developing players and they’ve been supported by the community game in that.
“The PRO14 is a competition that our professional sides find itself in at the moment. How successful is that and how engaging is that with our supporters? Not much. That’s why we’ve got to have a plan because if we don’t have a plan as a Welsh Rugby Union then we’ll get left behind.
“When I worked at Gloucester it was a huge eye opener to me because the level of sponsorship is probably tenfold, and I’m being conservative there, to what it is in Wales. You got grounds that are full with away supporters and fans are paying up to £50 for tickets.
“In Gloucester you get 13,000 every game. Now that makes a difference to the business model. Look at the Welsh crowds they are a fraction of what they are in England. I know from my own experience that the income they generate from crowds barely cleans its face.
“They’ve got really strong brands and they’ve got local support that love seeing their team. Bath against Gloucester is really exciting and everyone wants to see that game.
“In Wales I really do enjoy the derbies but outside of that we all struggle in terms of getting excited. There’s talk about more South African sides coming into the league. That’s fine in terms of bringing quality into the league but is it going to add proper value and is it actually going to help engage supporters?
“Supporters are key stakeholders and if we don’t consider them we’ll lose them.” Davies is also very keen to examine the pathway for young Welsh coaches with none of the four regions having any homegrown coaches at the helm. The former Scarlets coach believes this is shameful and must be addressed in the near future.
He said: “We as a union invested a huge amount of money in someone like Robin McBryde. He couldn’t get a job in Wales and he’s had to go to Leinster.
“For him in terms of his rugby knowledge it’s probably a good move and he’ll learn a lot but he’s come off the back of a huge investment by Welsh rugby in him. He’s done a fantastic job, had a great record, learnt so much yet there’s nowhere for him in Wales.
“I’m flabbergasted by it and equally by someone like Mark Jones who has had to go to New Zealand for an opportunity. Lets be clear this is a complete failure of our union.
“We’ve got to be equally careful that we don’t select too many players for the national side who haven’t come through our system in Wales. That is equally a negative in the long-term.”