Wales in crisis: regions the bane of a rugby nation facing the abyss | Michael Aylwin
How can Ireland be thriving on broadly the same levels of union income and exactly the same number of pro teams?To a casual observer – and in rugby there are plenty of those – the situation is bewildering. Wales have won more grand slams in the Six Nations era than anyone bar France, who drew level with them on four last season. They boast one of the biggest and most charismatic stadiums in the world and – more of an intangible, but very real all the same – rugby runs more deeply through the nation’s culture than anywhere else in the northern hemisphere.Yet Welsh rugby’s facade has imploded this past fortnight. Sitting bottom of the Six Nations table after two...