Welsh Rugby Union Reveals Their Stance On The Three-Year Residency Rule

The English Rugby Football Union revealed this week that will vote to extend the three-year residency rule in rugby to five years.

England have taken advantage of the rule in recent years, with Nathan Hughes being the most recent notable example. Ireland have also benefitted greatly from the rule with the additions of the likes of CJ Stander and Jared Payne to their playing roster.

The Welsh Rugby Union has now come out and revealed their stance, stating that they too will will vote to extend the residency rule to five years. World Rugby is due to vote on the issue in May after launching a review involving consultation with 126 unions last November.

The WRU believe it is the right thing to do and have made their intentions clear to World Rugby.

“We believe five years is the right thing,” said WRU head of performance Geraint John.

“That’s the message passed over to World Rugby when we had the meeting.

“We were in the World Rugby meeting and Martyn Phillips was representing us and our strategy is five years.”

The campaign is being led by World Rugby vice-chairman and former Argentina international Agustin Pichot. John says the idea suits the way the WRU want to manage talent in Wales.

“We feel it fits into our strategic plan in terms of what we’re about here in Wales – developing our own, developing players that are already here in Wales, looking at talent and trying to keep that talent in Wales,” he added.

While England and Wales support the plan it has been reported that Scotland and Ireland are opposed to the change.