Savvy Saracens use loophole in Welsh system
According to the BBC, Saracens have agreed to sign Wales under-20 prop Sam Wainwright from Rygbi Gogledd Cymru ahead of next season.
The 21-year-old will join the Champions Cup winners from the Welsh Premiership side having not played a game of regional rugby. Nonetheless, the tighthead prop was in demand, with London Irish also interested in signing him.
He will arrive with Cardiff Blues and fellow Wales under-20 prop Rhys Carre, as well as British and Irish Lions back Elliot Daly, and some other names from the Premiership.
Despite the Welsh Rugby Union implementing the policy that players with under 60 caps for Wales cannot be selected for their country if they are playing abroad, the likes of Carre and Wainwright are exempt from this. This is because players that are uncapped when signing a contract are still entitled to represent Wales until their contract expires.
This system has seen players like Josh Adams play for Wales, despite playing for Worcester. However, he has had to move to the Cardiff Blues, who he joins next season, to continue his international career. Likewise, Exeter found a way around this system earlier this season with Thomas Francis, by simply enacting a clause in his current contract rather than giving him a new one, allowing him to play for both Exeter and Wales.
Saracens have clearly used this system to their advantage this season, by recruiting two very promising players, while the WRU can do little to entice them to remain in Wales. The loosehead Carre has already been selected for Wales World Cup training squad at the age of 21 (after signing for Saracens), and Wainwright has been tipped to have a bright future.
With a number of test players in their ranks, Saracens’ squad becomes decimated during the internationals. Amongst the props alone, there is England’s Mako Vunipola, South Africa’s Vincent Koch and the USA’s Titi Lamositele. Until both Carre and Wainwright become internationals, they can be cover for some of Saracens’ stars during these periods, whilst also allowing greater squad rotation.
For a team that have come under close scrutiny this season regarding the salary cap and their methods in working around it, signing younger players will not be too great a financial incursion on Sarries. Under the WRU’s new pay band structure, both Carre and Wainwright will currently be in the lower bracket, as neither are test players.
This means that Saracens will probably be able to beat their current deals and not create any attention regarding the salary cap.
This is not simply beneficial for Saracens, however, as the Welsh regions will bear the fruits from this as well. At the end of both players’ deals, assuming they are international players by then, they will return to regional rugby with the experience of playing for Europe’s best team currently. Providing Saracens do not have any clauses in the players’ contracts similar to Francis’ at Exeter, they will be a major boost to Wales and whichever region they join in a couple of years’ time.
The Welsh regions are facing criticism currently for their performances, shown by only the Ospreys making the Champions Cup next season, and no team making the Pro14 playoffs. Wales will always continue to produce great players with raw talent, but the standard of the regions suggests that they could be nurtured better elsewhere.
Saracens, on the other hand, are one of the best at unearthing talent and developing players. The fact that 11 of their matchday squad in the Champions Cup final were products of their academy is a testament to how younger players thrive under their system.
Of course, losing Carre now will not help the Blues, but in the long run, he and Wainwright may return to Wales better players than they could have been if they had not moved to London. This is the only time in their careers that they can do this, and everyone should benefit in some way.
This may not be news that is popular west of the River Severn, but the players will be in one of the best environments currently in domestic rugby, which will only help the Welsh regions in the long run and Saracens for the next few seasons.
Comments on RugbyPass
Je suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
25 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
25 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
25 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
25 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
11 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
11 Go to comments