Amanda Blanc: PRB chair outlines Welsh rugby vision after ‘brutal’ period

The WRU is seeking to address this with a £20m loan divided between the four regions who will each be liable to repay the debt, a policy announced in June by departing WRU chief executive Martyn Phillips.

Blanc has refused to reveal any official financial figures but outlined the funding process.

“I won’t go into the numbers because they have not been officially published anywhere and in any business there is sensitivity,” said Blanc.

“I will explain the mechanism with money coming at the top of the funnel into the WRU in terms of the international game and revenues it provides. The WRU then has money to allocate to the professional and community game.

“The community game is ring-fenced, so money at the top of the funnel has a disproportionate impact on the professional game than the community game.

“The money allocated out to the professional game has been switched off since March. The WRU has had a massive revenue decline and we don’t know what the new season is going to look like.

“These depleted funds are allocated to the regions and money is not the same as it was.

“In June, Martyn made it clear there would not be enough money and we would need to seek financing. That loan is not finalised but the regions and WRU have been working hard to secure the financial future.

“I won’t say how much each region will get, they will get what they need from the loan. Any organisation that takes on a loan is a burden.

“Everybody has been taking tough decisions. Players, coaches and people in the regions and WRU have taken salary reductions, this is a tough time.”

Under normal circumstances, the PRB operates a distribution mode with payments weighted based on set criteria, including the number of players provided to the new elite 38 Wales players system.

This can mean the money is not split equally four ways between the regions.

“It’s a clear model that everybody signed up to how the money is allocated,” said Blanc.

“The amounts have changed because we don’t have the money now we had before (Covid-19).

“When we were projecting the 2020-21 season in January, we thought the internationals would be played, sponsorships would be normal and people would be turning up to games, but that’s not been the case.

“The money is nowhere near what it was originally. That’s why we have to find alternative ways to get through this difficult period.”

That has included regional players taking a 25% pay cut over 12 months. In April, the PRB reached an agreement with the Welsh Rugby Players’ Association (WRPA) over a three-month salary reduction.

The regions have since been negotiating with their own squads over further cuts, after a long-term collective agreement with the WRPA and PRB could not be reached.

“It would have been fantastic to have come to an agreement with PRB and WRPA, one agreement would have been better, but we could not get there,” admitted Blanc.

“It was not through the want of trying, we spent hours talking about this and I believe we came up with a great framework which was then implemented by the regions.”