Plans to restructure Welsh rugby by cutting the number of professional teams from four to two stirs memories of Scotland’s own ham-fisted attempts to ‘streamline’ the pro game back in the 1990s. It was an acrimonious period and the bad blood stirred up has not entirely dissipated. Wales can expect to experience similar turbulence over the coming months as they debate the future of their national sport. The proposals unveiled in Cardiff on Wednesday have been described as a blueprint to “save Welsh rugby” but they are radical and will have far reaching consequences, including job losses and the demise of teams. The Welsh Rugby Union has recognised they will cause “hurt and anger” but insist they are necessary to turn around the game at both club and international level. The detail is contained in a 90-page consultation document entitled ‘The Future of Elite Rugby in Wales’, the starkest part of which is the WRU’s proposal to halve its number of four men’s professional sides – Cardiff, Dragons, Ospreys and Scarlets – to two. It remains unclear whether the two future sides being proposed will be new entities or existing teams, but the two organisations will each have a men’s and women’s team. There will be a six-week consultation period before the WRU makes a final decision on the plans, and WRU chief executive Abi Tierney has urged people to “improve on the proposals” and provide “something fit for purpose for Welsh rugby”. “I know how emotional rugby is in Wales and people will be hurting today, when they think what it could mean potentially for them and their team,” said Tierney. Players were briefed on the WRU’s plan on Tuesday and Dave Reddin, the new director of rugby and elite performance, is confident suggestions of possible player strike action will not materialise. It is possible the WRU will face legal action from regions that could essentially be put out of business, with WRU chairman Richard Collier-Keywood saying “two or three areas of potential legal challenge” exist. The radical two-team proposal comes a month after the Wales men’s national team finally ended their 18-match losing Test run with a hard-fought 31-22 victory over Japan. Since then, Steve Tandy has been appointed head coach, leaving his post as Scotland’s defence coach to lead his native country. It is a popular appointment but there can be no hiding the scale of the task ahead of him. Wales lost all their matches in the Six Nations in 2024 and 2025, the first time they have picked up back-to-back Wooden Spoons in the Six Nations era. In the United Rugby Championship, three of the four Welsh regions finished outside the top eight, with only Scarlets making the play-offs. In short, the sport in Wales is in crisis. Back in the embryonic days of professional rugby, Scotland experienced its own watershed moment. When the sport was finally declared ‘open’ in 1995 it is fair to say that the Scottish Rugby Union did not embrace the new era with open arms. There was no Scottish participation in the inaugural European Cup as debate raged over who should represent Scotland in the nascent cross-border competition. Districts won the day over clubs, condemning the likes of Melrose, Hawick and Watsonians to a future on the periphery. When Scotland did take part in the second year of the European club competitions it was Edinburgh, the Borders, Caledonia and Glasgow who flew the Saltire. The four-strong contingent didn’t last; by 1998 the SRU was saddled with debt and merged the teams into two so-called ‘super-districts’, Edinburgh Reivers and Glasgow Caledonian. By 2001, the 'Reivers' and 'Caledonian' appendages were quietly dropped in a move which saw the two teams rebranded simply ‘Edinburgh’ and ‘Glasgow’ and although the Borders Reivers team was revived as a separate entity in 2002, they lasted only five seasons before the SRU pulled the plug. Since then, Edinburgh and Glasgow Warriors have been Scotland’s representatives in Europe and the Celtic League, the latter evolving into the Pro12, Pro14 and eventually the URC. The latest iteration was launched in 2022 and the big development was the inclusion of four South African franchises, bringing superstars like Siya Kolisi, Eben Etzebeth and Manie Libbok into the league and driving up standards as the Bulls, Sharks, Stormers and Lions vied with the Celtic clubs and Italy’s Benetton and Zebre. How the URC fills the gap left by the Welsh announcement is now key to the league’s continued success. A report this week suggested they would look to America for replacement clubs. Martin Anayi, the URC chief executive, has never been afraid to be bold - “expansion is in our DNA”, he said in June - but it’s hard to see what two US franchises would bring to the party except an enlarged carbon footprint. Italian clubs joined the league in 2010, the South African sides 11 years later, creating a 16-team championship that seems to work despite its unusual geographical make-up. The URC is remaining tight-lipped about the possible inclusion of American franchises but there are obvious dangers to transatlantic expansion. The travel implications are significant, both in terms of financial cost and the strain it would put on players who already take long-haul flights every season between Europe and South Africa. Also, while South Africa is in a similar time zone to Europe, the US is not, meaning games could kick off at inconvenient times for those on this side of the Atlantic. More significant, perhaps, is the paucity of interest in rugby in America. The sport thrives in South Africa and the inclusion of their teams in the URC has improved the league significantly but it’s hard to make a case for US sides doing likewise. The States will host the men’s Rugby World Cup in 2031 and the women’s tournament in 2033 so there is clearly a desire to grow the game before then but it is hard to break through in a country where American football dominates as a collision sport. Black Lion, the Georgian team coached by Richard Cockerill, would seem to have a more valid claim to join the URC than any US franchise but the league is facing the biggest challenge since its inception four years ago. The four Welsh teams will be part of the new URC season which is scheduled to begin next month but the 2026-27 campaign could look very different as Edinburgh, Glasgow and the other survivors face two new opponents. Anayi has long been aware of the existential threat to the Welsh franchises and addressed the possibility of change during a media briefing in June. “What we really want is competitive Welsh regions,” he said. “How do you get that? What resourcing does that need in the modern environment? And what resourcing is available in Wales?” The answers should become clear over the next six weeks and are likely to test Anayi’s expansionist policy. “We've moved and tried to grow each time, and we've done it,” the chief executive said of the league’s development. “I think we genuinely have made it a better league, more competitive than ever. There's more eyeballs. It's more engaged. Competitively, it's better. It's serving the national game, international game, really well, I hope. “So, I think it's important that we continue to look outwards.” In which direction remains to be seen.