Exodus of Wales rugby stars to France "will continue for long time to come"

Former Wales skipper Kingsley Jones has warned the exodus of star players to France will continue for a long time to come.

Jamie Roberts, Jonathan Davies, Mike Phillips, Ian Evans, Dan Lydiate, Luke Charteris and James Hook will all be playing their rugby across the Channel next season.

And Dragons coach Jones believes more big names will follow them as there is no sign of the bubble bursting in France, where a host of mega-rich clubs have cash to burn.

“I read people saying French rugby is not sustainable, well believe me it is,” he said. “The sponsorship comes from everywhere, the municipal, the council, the owners, there’s the crowds.

“I went to watch Toulon v La Rochelle a few years ago on a Tuesday night and you couldn’t get in the place. Everybody’s got a Toulon jersey on. That’s the way it is and that’s the way it’s going to remain unless they change the overseas rule for the Top 14.

“We haven’t got the finances to compete with France and the sooner we come to terms with it the better really. It’s unfortunate, but it’s a part of life and I think it will go on for a long time.

“We’ve been spending time talking about these players going for two or three years now.

“It’s a revolving question. It’s all we talk about. We go round in circles about it. It will be another player in the next month.”

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Former flanker Jones says it’s not all doom and gloom as the players will benefit from the experience and are still available to play for Wales.

“The positive is it’s not like in the 1980s and ‘90s where they all went to play rugby league and could no longer play for Wales,” he said.

“They can play for Wales and they will be better players. Ian Evans, in particular, will be a better player and a better person for that experience with Toulon.

“Yes, internationally we want them in camp and yes we want to see them playing for our regions. The supporters in Wales want to see these players playing. But ultimately there’s not a lot we can do about it, we just talk about it a lot.

“We can talk about central contracts, but we aren’t going to be able to pay 20 players half a million quid to be on central contracts and these are the figures we are talking about.”

Jones also has forthright opinions about Wales’ display against Australia at the Millennium Stadium last Saturday, when they were beaten 30-26.

“I’ll be honest, I don’t think it was a very good performance from Wales,” he said. “I think there was 40 minutes of that game where Australia could have run away with it. I have watched the game a couple of times and I was a bit disappointed with lots of aspects of the Welsh team and I’m sure the management will be privately.

“Australia were good. You’ve got to give them credit. There were some great football from their backs. Full credit to Wales for finishing strong, but if I’m being honest with you, I don’t think that was their best performance.

“The defensive shape wasn’t as good as Shaun Edwards would want.

“I’m sure he’s not coached for half the team to push hard and half the team to hold off. There were times that was happening and there was a little bit of distrust in the defensive line on occasion.

“You’ve got to credit the likes of Quade Cooper who are fantastic players, but they were given too much room. People held off. It seemed a little of a lack of trust in the defensive system or a couple of individuals doing different to the rest.

“Shaun Edwards will know that and I’m sure they will be working hard to put those things right and move into the Six Nations.”

Article source: http://www.bathchronicle.co.uk/National-Trust-raises-concern-Bath-Rugby-arena/story-20240954-detail/story.html

Exodus of Wales rugby stars to France "will continue for long time to come"