Cardiff Blues will need the help of the Welsh Rugby Union if they are to keep Leigh Halfpenny, the Lions full-back voted player of the series against Australia, when his contract runs out at the end of the season.
The Blues have already started talks with Halfpenny’s agent and with the tourists’ captain, Sam Warburton, whose contract with the region also has 12 months to run. The value of both players has soared since the full-back, who set a new points record in a Lions Test series, and Warburton signed their current deals.
Wales’s recent success has had a double-edged effect, making their players sought after in Europe. Three of the Lions’ starting lineup in the final Test against Australia – Jamie Roberts, Dan Lydiate and George North – are this summer leaving Welsh regionals for clubs in France and England.
The Welsh Rugby Union have made £1m available to their four regions to help them keep players, but a huge slice of it would be needed to keep the 24-year-old Halfpenny, who even before the Lions tour was a target for clubs in France, a country where salaries in excess of £500,000 a year are common.
“We know that Leigh and Sam are hot commodities in European rugby and we are going to fight hard to keep them because becoming competitive and successful again means keeping our best players,” said the Blues’ chief executive, Richard Holland. “Negotiations have already started – I am meeting Leigh’s agent again next week – and we know he will receive big offers elsewhere. We only have certain resources and as soon as it goes above a certain level, it will be down to Leigh. There is no way we could compete with £750,000 a year.
“The regions need to meet with the WRU as soon as possible to see how the £1m will be invested, although I am certain it will not simply be split four ways. We have a better opportunity of retaining Leigh and Sam working in collaboration with the union and players who are based in Wales have more freedom than those in France and England, but it is a one-off sum and would have to be spread across the duration of a contract.”
The Blues are laying a £400,000 artificial pitch they hope will increase their revenue as well as provide the means of playing the running rugby that the old bog of a pitch at the Arms Park militated against. Having got into the black after years of debt, the region has bid to stage next season’s Amlin Challenge Cup final on the eve of the Heineken Cup final which, it will be announced on Wednesday, will be staged at the Millennium Stadium after the French pulled out.
Jonathan Davies, the centre who kept Brian O’Driscoll out of the Test side in last weekend’s series decider in Sydney, has one year left with the Scarlets and he is another whose worth has been enhanced by the tour. The Lions head coach, Warren Gatland, who will resume his duties in Wales after a holiday at home in New Zealand, said in a television interview that O’Driscoll had contributed to his being dropped for the first time in his 15-year senior career.
“It was a really tough call,” said Gatland on ONE News. “Brian was clearly disappointed, but he took it on the chin and did not throw his toys out of the cot, supporting the team fully. I was really impressed with the way he handled himself and have total respect for him.
“Brian was great for us on tour and he brought some players on. There is no doubt that a big part in Jonathan’s development on tour was that he was training with Brian and learning from him. I was surprised at the furore the selection decision created on social media: you will never please everyone, but it is about being true to yourself, not being popular. I would rather walk away from the game than be influenced by people on the outside.”
Lions hero Leigh Halfpenny faces fresh attempt to keep him in Wales
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