Welsh rugby isn’t short of young talent. But it may soon be short of minutes

Andy Jones

I worked within the Welsh Rugby Union from 2011 to 2016 before spending six seasons in the French professional system between 2017 and 2023, including one season in ProD2 with Grenoble and five in the Top 14 with Section Paloise, including four as Head of Performance Analysis.

That period gave me perspective. Not just on individual players, but on how structures shape development.

What struck me most wasn’t only the quality of young players. It was how early and how often they were immersed in senior rugby.

French rugby is cut-throat. Promotion and relegation sharpen everything. Seasons are long, the consequences are real and every week carries pressure. Young players are not simply introduced to senior rugby. They are relied upon.

The difference between France and Wales is not talent. It is exposure. Sustained exposure. Volume.

Take a simple comparison from the Wales v France match: 22-year-old Émilien Gailleton, Pau’s outside centre, and 23-year-old Eddie James, the Scarlets’ 13, who lined up opposite him.

By 18, Gailleton had started 22 of 24 ProD2 matches for Agen. He played 1,780 minutes that season. At 19, he moved into the Top 14 and started 21 matches, logging 1,867 minutes across 27 appearances. In 2023/24 he played 2,257 minutes, starting 27 games and making his France debut.

Before turning 20 he had already accumulated 51 senior matches and nearly 3,700 minutes. By 22, he had passed 100 senior appearances and more than 7,000 minutes.

Now compare that with Eddie James. By 20–21 he had featured in four URC matches for the Scarlets, totalling 94 minutes. His breakthrough came in 2023/24. He played 972 minutes, starting 12 of 15 matches, and made his Wales debut.

The following season he became a regular starter, beginning 13 of 19 games and accumulating 1,207 minutes.

This isn’t about ability. It’s about timing. Gailleton’s immersion — the point at which he became a regular starter in high-level professional rugby — began at 18.

James’ immersion began at 21–22. That is a two to three year difference in exposure accumulation.

Pattern

Context matters. The Top 14 season is longer than the URC. Injuries shape availability. Gailleton has had his setbacks too. But the broader pattern is hard to ignore.

The Top 14 operates across two fully professional divisions and under the JIFF quota system, which requires clubs to field a minimum number of players developed within the French system.

Within that structure, young players regularly accumulate high volumes of minutes between 18 and 22.

In France, that second tier provides competitive senior rugby without players having to leave the professional structure. It means opportunities are distributed across two levels rather than concentrated in one.

These examples are not anomalies. The exposure gap is consistent: French players are accumulating significantly more senior club minutes by the same stage of their development, even allowing for differences in league format.

Talent gets players into professional environments. What shapes them from 19 to 23 is repetition. The number of games they play. The intensity of those games. The consequences attached to them.

That is why the proposed reduction from four Welsh regions to three matters.

Four regions provide 92 professional matchday places per round. Three provide 69.

Across an 18 game URC season, that is more than 400 fewer matchday exposures. The consequence is not fewer debuts. It is fewer immersion seasons. Fewer opportunities for 19 to 22 year olds to accumulate 1,200 to 1,800 meaningful minutes under pressure.

Entry points

Structural decisions influence where and when those minutes are accumulated. Reducing professional environments may concentrate resources, but it also narrows the number of entry points into senior rugby. Over time, that changes the developmental volume available to emerging players.

Welsh rugby does not lack talent. The question is whether it can continue to generate enough sustained exposure for that talent to reach its ceiling.

Contraction might strengthen first teams in the short term. But development is a long game. The real question is not who plays next season. It is who is ready in three years’ time.

Readiness is built on repetition.