A seismic weekend for Welsh rugby: What is going on and, crucially, what might come next?

WITH the four professional clubs in South Africa, with the Scarlets even securing their place in the United Rugby Championship play-offs, things back home were far from idyllic.

- BEN JAMES

Given the fact that the Welsh Rugby Union’s deadline to sign the new Professional Rugby Agreement had been and gone with the Ospreys and Scarlets refusing to sign, it was perhaps unsurprising that things were about to come to a head.

And yet, in the mad world of Welsh rugby, the news on Saturday night that going down to three professional clubs, as our sister website WalesOnline revealed, was now a strong possibility still came as a shock.

"We're a laughing stock in world rugby,” remarked one source following the news.

The WRU has since confirmed that the two-year notice period has been issued to terminate the current PRA in order to proceed with its debt refinancing.

In a statement on Sunday morning, the governing body confirmed that the days of four evenly-funded clubs were over.

In response, the two clubs who have held out on signing released their own statement, accusing the WRU of performing a “U-turn”.

Quite clearly, after a dramatic 48 hours, any sort of peaceful resolution now seems unlikely as Welsh rugby finds itself in a deeply unsettling position.

Uncertainty reigns, with players and staff arriving back to Wales desperate to find out exactly how the game in this country has once again grabbed all the headlines for all the wrong reasons.

So what has changed in the past week or so?

Just days ago, a deadline was set for the Dragons, Ospreys and Scarlets to sign the new PRA, joining the now WRU-owned Cardiff on the new agreement.

That would have seen them agree to the new model as four equallyfunded teams.

Yet now the deadline has passed with only two sides signing, the WRU are moving away from that model, with the four clubs informed last Thursday.

At best, that looks like four teams working on different budgets.

The worst-case scenario is going down to three teams.