Ospreys are adamant they will be open for business as usual in Swansea next season despite talks about relocating to Cardiff.
The capital region, in dire financial straits like the rest of the British club game, began informal discussions earlier this year over a so-called merger with Wales' most successful region being rebranded as Cardiff Ospreys.
Worse still from an Ospreys' perspective, it would mean Swansea's only fully professional rugby operation moving lock, stock and barrel 40 miles along the motorway – anightmarish scenario given the historic rivalry between the cities.
“We at the Ospreys are versations with Cardiff about trying to help them but they are in a very poor state,” another source told The Rugby Paper. “It's such a mess.
“That makes any talks about a merger sound implausible. From a business perspective, it doesn't make any obvious sense. It's so far-fetched.”
In more sensible times, such an idea would have cracking for next season as normal,” a leading figure told The Rugby Paper. “The players are back in training and our recruitment has worked out almost as we wanted.”
Cardiff, forced like the other regions to slash their annual budget by more than £2m, have lost 21 players since the end of last season.
“There have been conbeen dismissed but not in the game's current state of volatility. Peter Thomas, Cardiff 's perennial saviour who built his fortune on the family pie-making business, repeatedly prevented the club from being smashed on the rocks of bankruptcy right up until his death in March.
Ospreys are owned by the Thailand-based Y11 Sport & Media. They took over three years ago with the company's founder, ex-Welsh athlete James Davies-Yandle, outlining his aims.
“It's a ten-year plan,” he said. “Everybody will start to see change happening at the Ospreys and change for the better. It's our priority to sustain the organisation and grow rugby within the region because that's where the talent is going to come from.
“Off the pitch, the strength of loyalty and trust is there. Combine all of that and it's a cauldron for success.''
The company's mission statement says it is ‘committed to transforming high-potential organisations into sustainable and iconic brands.'
Ospreys' fans are used to protesting against what they regard as hostile takeover bids, like the one from their Scarlets' neighbours four years ago. But the very thought of selling out to their bitter rivals in the capital will provoke a still more angry backlash from the length and breadth of Ospreylia.
