Rugby evening headlines as each Welsh region to have 'different purpose' and Leinster destroy Toulouse

Dragons chairman David Buttress says it needs to be accepted that each Welsh region has “a different purpose”, much like the situation in Ireland. He was speaking in the wake of all the speculation about the future of the pro teams in Wales, following a proposal that one of them should be axed.

Buttress is adamant all four regional sides need to be retained in order to provide an adequate player pool. He also dismisses the notion that one of them may become a development team, a role some have suggested might be handed to the Dragons.

“I don’t think that’s the right language, no,” he said in a TV interview with BBC’s ScrumV.

“The reality is all four teams have a different role today and have had for the last 10-15 years. None of them have been funded equally through this period. But will a team be a development region? No, because that wouldn’t make sense for that particular team and it wouldn’t make sense for professional rugby in Wales.

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“We should accept though, a bit like in Ireland, each team has a different purpose. I think that’s a smart way to structure your game, so that each team is bringing different things to the success of the four teams and the national team.”

He added: “It’s really important each region continues because the Welsh national team needs to have a player pool that’s as big as possible to compete alongside the likes of Ireland. I think contracting the player pool would obviously be the wrong thing to do. We have got to invest in the four team set-up so we set the Welsh national team up for success over the next decade.

“We are going to have some tough decisions to make, though, about what is going to work and be