Welsh rugby has hit 'rock bottom' - This is the WRU's plan to fix the broken talent pathway

When Nigel Walker looks out of the window of his office on Westgate Street, what does he see?

The Welsh Rugby Union’s Director of Rugby sees a senior men’s team that has just limped to its first wooden spoon in over two decades, just the second time they’ve lost every game in the tournament during the Six Nations era.

The regions are struggling to be competitive in any competition they feature in, with the Ospreys the only team showing real signs of life.

The under-20s have not won the Six Nations since 2016 and haven’t really been a factor in the tournament since 2017.

As we meet in the bowels of the Principality Stadium, he accepts: “We’re going through a difficult time. Nobody has hidden from that.”

Warren Gatland’s first stint in charge of Wales was one of the most successful periods in the history of the national side.

But George North’s retirement from the Test arena on Saturday signalled the end of Welsh rugby’s latest golden generation.

The Wales boss is now left with a crop of players, some of which by his own admission are not ready for rugby at this level.

Which begs the question, was enough being done to prepare for the future or was Welsh rugby too busy basking in the glory of a bursting trophy cabinet?

“Ideally, we wouldn’t be in the position we have been over the last year or so, where we’ve lost hundreds of caps in a relatively small number of players,” said Walker.

“People like Alun Wyn Jones, Justin Tipuric, Dan Biggar, now George North. You wouldn’t want to lose the services of those players all in a 12 month period.

“I’m not going to apportion blame but you’re right, that should have been managed better than it has been managed.

“When Warren came back, he mentioned that he was concerned about the depth in the squad and what might happen.

“He has taken the very brave step of going with youth. He has been honest and said it will be difficult because there is no substitute for experience.”

Despite a dismal Six Nations, Walker said he was happy with Gatland’s approach of promoting youth when asked if the head coach had his backing.

Since arriving in the corridors of power at the WRU in 2021, Walker’s had his hands full.

He secured professional contracts for Wales’ elite women’s players and was then moved to an interim role as CEO during the fallout from damning sexism allegations that rocked the game in early 2023.

Walker is now back in a performance role and has turned his attention to fixing a talent pipeline that is broken.

Despite meeting resistance, he has pushed through the inception of an ‘Elite Domestic Competition’, which is essentially a trimmed down version of the Welsh Premiership, aimed at raising the standard of playing opportunities available to the country’s best young players one step below regional rugby.

Part of Rob Howley’s new role is to form a bridge between the senior team and the Under-20s team and he is aiming to improve the links between the under-18s and 20s teams.

As part of a new academy licence that Walker hopes will be in place by next season, the regions are required to meet minimum standards and minimum spends on their academies, with funding attached to that.

Walker is unwilling to apportion blame but it begs the question - wasn’t this all happening before now?

“We can always improve and those alignments (through the age-grades) are now much stronger than they ever have been. They will bear fruit,” he insisted.

“We’re pulling every lever that is possible to pull. We’re now making sure that we do have a true pathway but it will take time.

“I’m not saying it’s going to take six or seven years for the senior team to start winning but the fruits of our labours at 16s, 18s and 20s level may take a few years to come through.”

Walker accepts that fixing the pathway requires investment into the regional academies.

He said: “We’ve highlighted a minimum figure and we’ve split where we think that money should be spent. We’re obviously going to monitor it.

“Each academy will be audited at least once a year formally against the standards that we set.

“It’s not being over-officious, it’s about making sure that they’re creating an environment for those young players, not just to survive, but to come through and fulfil their potential as quickly as possible.”

The concern is how long all this will take.

Development of talent doesn’t happen overnight and Wales need to start winning games.

The WRU almost literally cannot afford for Gatland’s side to keep losing matches. Matchday revenue generated at Test level bankrolls the game in Wales.

For now, attendances have held firm and over 70,000 turned up to watch the Italy game. But if results don’t improve, they could begin to drop and that creates another concerning issue.

“I know the point you’re making but given where we are, what’s the option?” Says Walker. “You have to invest in youth.

“The academies have not been unsuccessful because we’ve had players coming through. Whether we’ve had them coming through at the right pace is another matter.

“When will we be at the optimum level? I can’t say whether that’s going to be two years, three years or four years.”

But developing talent doesn’t come cheap and Welsh rugby’s woes coincide with financial troubles.

All four of the regional teams are now operating on significantly reduced budgets. Building a squad is difficult enough, nevermind investing in academy structures.

It’s hard to invest in tomorrow when you’re struggling today.

But Walker insists that tough decisions needed to be made as Welsh rugby was overspending.

He said: “The reset, if I can use that word, was necessary because we - the Union and the regions - were spending beyond our means.

“If we hadn’t made that correction, professional rugby would have been in jeopardy, there’s no two ways about it.”

Having plans for change is all well and good but for meaningful change to take place it has to be agreed upon by all four of the regions and the WRU.

That has been the stumbling block on a number of occasions down the years but Walker insists that Welsh rugby’s current plight should give all parties a little bit of impetus.

"It's easier to change when things are not going as well as you would have liked,” he says. “It's much more difficult to implement change or for change to be accepted when you are doing well.

"There is a desire from all of those around the table to ensure that Welsh rugby is successful at all levels and everything that's involved in Welsh rugby.”

Walker insists that the aim is still for a Welsh region to one day challenge for silverware.

“If we get our structures right and we can fund the regions to the level we all want the regions to be funded to we can do it,” he insists.

But right now, that feels like a long way off.

In the wake of Wales’ defeat to Italy, Gatland admitted that Welsh rugby has hit rock bottom.

But the good thing about hitting rock bottom is that the only way is up.

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