How can WRU bosses make four go into two?

NORMALLY this would be the time of year when previews of the upcoming season would begin.

- STEFFAN THOMAS

Stories taking in-depth looks at the makeup of the squads of the four professional clubs - Cardiff, Dragons, Ospreys and Scarlets - would be commonplace, along with the best new signings of the summer.

But this hasn’t been your run-of-the-mill summer and this is very much the calm before the storm with the Welsh Rugby Union set to enact radical change.

By the end of the month the WRU will have entered formal consultation with a number of key stakeholders in order to create a new structure of the professional game.

While we won’t know exactly what the new setup will look like until October - and potentially even longer until the public are told what teams will be cut or merged - we are highly likely to find out imminently what the WRU views as the optimal structure.

‘According to well-placed sources in the upper echelons of the Welsh game, the direction of travel is hurtling towards a reduction from four professional clubs to two.

But is this the right way to go? What are the pros and cons of such a radical change?

With regards going down to two teams, the first argument which is often put forward by disgruntled fans is along the lines of how many Six Nations titles have Scotland and Italy won with only two teams?

‘The answer is, of course, zero. And it is a fair question to ask.

But Wales would arguably be starting from a stronger base than Scotland. And if we are being brutally honest, there is currently only enough top-class talent in Wales to service two strong teams.

Some may favour a 2+1 model where you have two very well-funded sides while keeping a third alive as a development team.

There's merit in such an arrangement, but it’s anti-competitive and would devalue any competition they play in.