Why there's no 'elephant in the room' for Wales this Six Nations

Wales captain Dewi Lake has described the Six Nations as a “welcome distraction” for Steve Tandy’s embattled squad amid the current turmoil in Welsh rugby.

The build-up to the tournament for Wales has been overshadowed by Ospreys owners Y11 Sport and Media being named as the preferred bidder by the Welsh Rugby Union to take over domestic rivals Cardiff, who went into administration in April 2025.

Should the deal go through, Ospreys and Cardiff will continue as separate sides but be owned by one organisation.

The future, however, looks bleak for Ospreys, who have only been given playing guarantees until the end of the 2026-27 season and with the WRU keen to reduce the number of men’s professional regions from four to three.

Lake has chosen to leave Ospreys for Gloucester at the end of the season, but the 26-year-old hooker is one of seven players from the Swansea-based region in the Wales squad set to kick off their Six Nations campaign away to England on February 7.

“Obviously it’s a tough situation for everyone to find out in the week (about the takeover),” Lake told reporters at the Guinness Six Nations launch in Edinburgh.

“It probably is quite a welcome distraction, having the ability to throw yourself into matches or watch the opposition and doing your analysis for the weekend.

“Having the opportunity to step on the field and represent your country in one of the best competitions in the world is only going to take your mind away from things happening off the field.

“It’s also massive fuel for the fire for us. What’s going on off-field affects everyone in our group.

“Something like that can only rally your group, make you tighter together.”

Fans protested against the plans of the WRU and Y11 at Ospreys and Cardiff’s United Rugby Championship games over the weekend.

Both sets of supporters lit up their phones to express their opposition to the proposed takeover and Ospreys head coach Mark Jones applauded his region’s fans for “showing solidarity”.

Asked how difficult his role of captain in the Six Nations would be, Lake said: “There’s not much managing needed really in terms of how boys deal with things like this, because it’s quite personal.

“It’s instability, boys will have families and deal with things differently.

“The only thing I will deal with is that come game time everyone is switched on.

“The group and environment we’ve built will take care of itself, I don’t think there will be too much of a hangover.”

Head coach Tandy praised the attitude of his players as Wales attempt to bounce back from two successive winless Six Nations.

Tandy said: “The boys have been unbelievable. In the autumn there were other things going on as well but, for me, it’s been about being speaking to the players and being up front with them.

“If they’ve got something to share, rather than it being elephant in the room and no-one talking about it, we encourage them to speak.”