Gibbo - The WRU's ability to confuse the average punter like me seems to be endless. Their management of coaches, players and teams always carries a soap opera element with it. Their latest snafu is their support of the announcement by Warren Gatland that playing abroad will impact the ability of upcoming new players to play for the national team. While in principal this message is a positive one for growing talent within the Welsh regional game, in the 2 weeks since it was announced the list of player signings that has occurred shows that there is little appetite to back this stance up with the appropriate investment in youth.
Dwayne Peel has signed with Sale and Michael Owen with Saracens. To add to the exit of Welsh players, 2 Kiwis (Xavier Rush and Ben Blair) re-signed with the Blues, Tommy Bowe Ulster's young international winger signed with Ospreys and Peel's back up at LLanelli, New Zealand's Regan King, also penned a new deal.
Ospreys who creamed Gloucester in the Heineken cup a couple of weeks ago did so on the backs of great performances from 3 kiwis including Justin Marshall at scrum half. So 2 of the 4 regions in Wales have Welsh scrum halves, while 2 English clubs have Welsh SHs.
Personally I can't understand why there isn't uproar at this hypocrisy. I know that all of the European leagues are overflowing with foreign players, which grinds on all of our nerves, but the Welsh are the only country making a stance that defies the logic of their investments. If Gatland really believes in this approach then something has to change in the Region's back offices for this to ever succeed.
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