Peace Breaks Out Between World Rugby Union, Four Regions As $100M Agreement Is Reached

The Welsh Rugby Union and its four regions signed a new agreement, "but such was the divide between the sides after two years of fraught talks that there was no joint media conference to announce the details of a deal" that will be worth £60M ($100M) to the quartet up to '20, according to Paul Rees of the London GUARDIAN. While WRU CEO Roger Lewis made himself available for interview, the regions’ negotiators "left the Millennium Stadium as soon as they had signed the agreement." Cooperation "was limited to a joint statement they each sent out under their own logos via email." The relief of the regions "at reaching an agreement that ostensibly guaranteed their independence was tempered by a concern about how elements of it would work" (GUARDIAN, 8/28).