Huw Bennett off to Lyon

Doesn't make sense to me leaving the Ospreys for the club that is BOTTOM of the Top 14 (unless of course they have offered him ridiculous money and he doesn't care which league he plays in).

South of France. Decent money. Sounds like a pretty good deal to me

He also didn't seem to mind sitting on the bench all the time for the Ospreys when they were paying the biggest wages of any Welsh region - so I guess he's thinking of the money and lifestyle rather than the rugby.

From the O's website:

http://www.ospreysrugby.com/news/6317.php

To be fair, Benny's probably looking towards the end of his career now, so why not prepare for the future and go to a decent spot in the sun, earn good money and gain some experience with it?

All the best Benny, been a good servant in Ospreylia, have a blast in France (hope he can pick up the lingo!)

Well, with Ken Owens emerging, a British Lion in Matthew Rees to come back, Lloyd Burns' rise to stardom before he got injured (still far from the polished article though) and youngsters like Kirby Myhill sniffing around I think the futures bright at no.2. No offence to him, but with others around he won't be too great a loss to regional/welsh rugby.

Bennett is 28. Hardly at the end of his career

To be honest hes been lucky to get as much caps as he has now. Good luck to him, but we wont miss him

Rhys Thomas, the Cardiff hooker is also off to Wasps.

This is just getting crazy now.

I thought the effect of the Salary cap would be to get rid of the overpaid foreign legion but it seems to be the Welsh internationals leaving.

The Blues will not sign any Welsh players I think as they will not get paid during international periods, so I can see them having a team of foreigners and kids. Not good for ticket sales I think.

If that's the case then they should get very limited funding or become a development region as the whole reason for being there is to provide Welsh players for Wales.

Not really. All the regions are doing the same. You will see a lot more international players leave Wales unless there are changes made i can asure you.
The WRU needs to come up with a compromise. Why should any of the regions pay their internationals big salaries when they'll be away with Wales most of the time.

gowales wrote:Not really. All the regions are doing the same. You will see a lot more international players leave Wales unless there are changes made i can asure you.
The WRU needs to come up with a compromise. Why should any of the regions pay their internationals big salaries when they'll be away with Wales most of the time.

Maybe because the WRU give them £1.5m each for the privelage!

Here's a question. If the WRU centrally contract the players then who pays their wages when they go back to the regions?? I bet Peter Pies will want the WRU to cover the cost then and expect to get international players for free ?? Or is he just too dull to see the flip side of what he is doing? Actually don't answer that I know the answer.

Well something needs to be done because people want to see top internationals play not young academy players, unless they're winning of course

Totally agree Gowales.

I think all the regions could see a serious decrease in season ticket sales.

I think it is time for a shake up of the whole thing, even if that means ripping up the current regions and starting again.

I hope whatever the report in March says that something is done. We have all seen these reports just getting shelved to gather dust after costing a fortune to produce.

If it says 3 regions, so be it. If it says 4 regions, 1 In North wales, Valleys and then SE Wales and SW Wales then so be it. But for gods sake lets not sit back and do nothing.

The people in Wales want to see their heros play, and if most of them are in France or England then the regions will not sell any tickets and they will not survive another season.

Agreed. A lot of people are deluding themselves in thinking that losing top internationals is a good thing. It isn't, but hopefully it means a shake up of the flawed regional set up. Lets hope for something to be done... and quickly!

It's not good that R Thomas is going - thats a big blow - the only other big blows so far are Charteris and Jenkins going as Bennett, Hook, Byrne and Phillips were struggling to get into the Ospreys side, and Dom Day isn't a huge player yet.

But we'll have to see what state the regions are in after the summer.

People say that fans won't pay if they can't see the internationals play, but that could well be the problem now as most of the internationals have only played between 2-8 games for their regions because of the ridiculous way the season is structured. Maybe if that changes and the internationals can be available for more games then the regions will be able to invest more to keep the best of them.

doctornickolas wrote:Rhys Thomas, the Cardiff hooker is also off to Wasps.

This is just getting crazy now.

I thought the effect of the Salary cap would be to get rid of the overpaid foreign legion but it seems to be the Welsh internationals leaving.

The Blues will not sign any Welsh players I think as they will not get paid during international periods, so I can see them having a team of foreigners and kids. Not good for ticket sales I think.

If that's the case then they should get very limited funding or become a development region as the whole reason for being there is to provide Welsh players for Wales.

Flipping eck. TRT leaving now.
I can understand the logic in clearing out the current international players on massive salaries, but TRT is no longer in the team Wales picture, so is available all season long to Cardiff Blues and therefore represents better value for money.

A victim of the crazy stadium deal obviously. The business accounts are due out tomorrow.
Well done Peter Thomas for your mad gamble and taking the club to the brink.

doctornickolas wrote:Totally agree Gowales.

I think all the regions could see a serious decrease in season ticket sales.

The indications are that season ticket sales have decreased hugely since Cardiff Blues moved to the new stadium and are now less than half what they were at CAP.

doctornickolas wrote:

Maybe because the WRU give them £1.5m each for the privelage!

Here's a question. If the WRU centrally contract the players then who pays their wages when they go back to the regions?? I bet Peter Pies will want the WRU to cover the cost then and expect to get international players for free ?? Or is he just too dull to see the flip side of what he is doing? Actually don't answer that I know the answer.

Apparently, the £1.5m only covers the time outside of the official IRB windows ie training, Poland, the extra AI, the June international, etc.
Inside the windows ie the 6Ns and AIs, is not covered, so the regions get nothing during these periods.

Yes but the regions agreed to an increase in money (from £3m split 4 ways to £6m split 4 ways) in exchange for the WRU having extra access to the int players during and beyond the international windows.

Now it seems the regions (or at least Peter T) are saying, ok I know we agreed to this but we still want more money on top of the £6m, to cover the ints while they are away. - That was kinda the point of the new agreement in the 1st place