Will Rowland Wales 6N

[Neils]

No surprise in his being picked.

[BG]

His what is being picked?

Hopfeully his brain and not his nose.

[hookender]

See that Pivac is hoping to keep the 6 premiership players including Will for length of 6 nations . Whilst might be good idea re COVID bubbles , would tell him to stuff it unless WRU agree he can sign new contract with us and he will still be eligible to play for Wales in future.

[Montague Withnail]

See that Pivac is hoping to keep the 6 premiership players including Will for length of 6 nations . Whilst might be good idea re COVID bubbles , would tell him to stuff it unless WRU agree he can sign new contract with us and he will still be eligible to play for Wales in future.

They aren't going to agree to that though are they? It would be a PR disaster for the PRL clubs to demand these players return, and even worse if they got COVID in the process, so the WRU know they are going to get their own way regardless. Also, I don't think Wasps can act unilaterally here, this is a PRL thing and the other premiership clubs don't care. For once I would admit that we're onto a loser here and we should concede this one as a bad job. I'm pretty unhappy that the WRU has picked such a massive squad in these circumstances, but at the same time I have to admit that Will would have been picked even if they had gone for 28 like the RFU, so it doesn't really affect us.

I do feel a bit sorry for Will in all of this. It's obviously great for him that he gets to play international rugby, and richly deserved, but having to live in Newport and play for the Dragons is a massive price to pay for that, plus I suspect he'll spend a lot of time on the bench and I don't get the impression he is long term central to Pivac's plans. Anyway, good luck to him, I hope he gets plenty of game time and is their star player is a losing cause!

[westwaleswasp]

To be fair, he won't have to live in Newport itself, plenty of nice places nearby. Fully agree about the Dragons though.
Wonder if Dai at Cardiff will nab him?

[Montague Withnail]

To be fair, he won't have to live in Newport itself, plenty of nice places nearby. Fully agree about the Dragons though.
Wonder if Dai at Cardiff will nab him?

Fair point, I doubt many Wasps players live in Hillfields. You'd think he'd be one of Dai's first phone calls wouldn't you? I wonder if he's looking to get Thomas, I think he extended his contract with us though.

[Rifleman Harris]

See that Pivac is hoping to keep the 6 premiership players including Will for length of 6 nations . Whilst might be good idea re COVID bubbles , would tell him to stuff it unless WRU agree he can sign new contract with us and he will still be eligible to play for Wales in future.

They aren't going to agree to that though are they? It would be a PR disaster for the PRL clubs to demand these players return, and even worse if they got COVID in the process, so the WRU know they are going to get their own way regardless. Also, I don't think Wasps can act unilaterally here, this is a PRL thing and the other premiership clubs don't care. For once I would admit that we're onto a loser here and we should concede this one as a bad job. I'm pretty unhappy that the WRU has picked such a massive squad in these circumstances, but at the same time I have to admit that Will would have been picked even if they had gone for 28 like the RFU, so it doesn't really affect us.

I do feel a bit sorry for Will in all of this. It's obviously great for him that he gets to play international rugby, and richly deserved, but having to live in Newport and play for the Dragons is a massive price to pay for that, plus I suspect he'll spend a lot of time on the bench and I don't get the impression he is long term central to Pivac's plans. Anyway, good luck to him, I hope he gets plenty of game time and is their star player is a losing cause!

I used to live in Newport. I'm assuming you don't know the place as there are loads of nice places to live there.

[Shugs]

I find the whole rule ridiculous to be honest. Made more so by the convenient loophole of the availability if enough caps have been obtained. Roughly translated it says we're going to have a set of strict rules that protect our national team whilst reducing players professional options but if you are REALLY good they don't matter because we want you in the team too much.

[Montague Withnail]

See that Pivac is hoping to keep the 6 premiership players including Will for length of 6 nations . Whilst might be good idea re COVID bubbles , would tell him to stuff it unless WRU agree he can sign new contract with us and he will still be eligible to play for Wales in future.

They aren't going to agree to that though are they? It would be a PR disaster for the PRL clubs to demand these players return, and even worse if they got COVID in the process, so the WRU know they are going to get their own way regardless. Also, I don't think Wasps can act unilaterally here, this is a PRL thing and the other premiership clubs don't care. For once I would admit that we're onto a loser here and we should concede this one as a bad job. I'm pretty unhappy that the WRU has picked such a massive squad in these circumstances, but at the same time I have to admit that Will would have been picked even if they had gone for 28 like the RFU, so it doesn't really affect us.

I do feel a bit sorry for Will in all of this. It's obviously great for him that he gets to play international rugby, and richly deserved, but having to live in Newport and play for the Dragons is a massive price to pay for that, plus I suspect he'll spend a lot of time on the bench and I don't get the impression he is long term central to Pivac's plans. Anyway, good luck to him, I hope he gets plenty of game time and is their star player is a losing cause!

I used to live in Newport. I'm assuming you don't know the place as there are loads of nice places to live there.

I work on power stations, and have probably been there 20 times between the 2 over my career (one coal one gas) and have also done some business with the port. Never stayed for a weekend though. I'm sure there are some nice neighbourhoods (not that I went to them), but you still want a decent town centre for going out with mates don't you?

[westwaleswasp]

We have a jokey saying that Swansea, 50 miles from Cardiff, 50 mins on the train, is just a suburb of Cardiff. Newport is maybe 15 mins on the train from Cardiff. The way the train stations are situated and frequency of the trains makes it really easy to slip between them.
Personally at my age I fancy something a little rural, but with decent transport links, rather than the bigger cities, but I would imagine many young rugby players would be quite at home around Cardiff.

From a rugby pov I think Cardiff are more attractive long term, and generally playing for them will open up more local post career opportunities than the Dragons. I also think the Blues could do with some ballast, so WR is a great fit for them.