Jamie Roberts and the WRU
By cardiffsteve
October 19 2012
With all the talk of appeals to the WRU for financial assistance, its easy to look at the Jamie Roberts saga as a case of a Welsh team again holding their hands out and begging for more money.
With all the talk of appeals to the WRU for financial assistance, its easy to look at the Jamie Roberts saga as a case of a Welsh team again holding their hands out and begging for more money. I'm completely against any professional team getting a charitable donation from the union. Professional rugby teams aren't normal businesses but they aren't charities either. Every penny we get from the governing body has to be justified. But the fact is, if Cardiff Blues give Jamie Roberts a new contract under the current system, we would be doing it for the union's benefit more than our own. This is a world class player who quite rightly will be spending large chunks of the season with Wales and when he isn't is likely to be nursing injuries sustained while playing against the likes of the All Blacks. The sensible thing to do would be to sign a Kiwi centre instead. We'd probably be getting someone of inferior quality, but it's guaranteed that he'd be available week in week out. Or, probably even smarter in the current circumstances, sign some overseas forwards. Stick with Roberts and we're doing the WRU an expensive favour. True, the WRU already provide us with £1.5 million a year in compensation for the time players spend away. But, this money doesn’t vary according to how many players we provide. Perhaps this is something which should have been better handled when the last participation agreement was signed between the regions and the WRU. Its justified to look and change this system so that either the money is distributed differently, or an additional payment is made for exceptional cases like Jamie Roberts – who, as long as he's able to walk, is likely to remain one of the first names on the Wales teamsheet. If there’s no change, well who can really blame Cardiff Blues for either not offering a new contract?