- Wales have endured an awful 18 months with their team losing 17 straight Tests
- But some of their players based at home are of interest to club teams in England
- Blair Murray, Ellis Mee and Dan Edwards have all attracted Premiership admirers
A host of Gallagher Premiership clubs are hoping to benefit from Welsh rugby’s current struggles by looking to entice more of the country’s best players to England.
Wales’ senior men’s side is on a 17-Test losing streak, has not tasted international success since the 2023 World Cup, and has finished bottom of the Six Nations pile without a win for the past two years.
The Welsh Rugby Union is searching for a new men’s coach and director of rugby as well as a chief growth officer who will be tasked with increasing revenue.
With the country’s national game at a low ebb, Premiership teams have sensed an opportunity to attract more Welsh talent over the Severn Bridge.
Of Wales’ 36-man squad which finished the 2025 Six Nations – its size fluctuated throughout the Championship due to injuries and call-ups – 13 are already at English or French teams.
Despite their struggles at Test level, Wales do still have playing talent.
Blair Murray of the Scarlets stood out for Wales in the Six Nations despite the team’s struggles
A number of Wales’ top stars are already at English clubs, like Gloucester’s Tomos Williams
Mail Sport understands that Scarlets and Wales backs Blair Murray and Ellis Mee have admirers in English club rugby.
Murray only joined the Scarlets in June last year from New Zealand side Canterbury, but had an impressive Six Nations at full-back in a struggling team.
Both Murray and Mee are under contract in Llanelli although that hasn’t stopped other sides from looking at them with future deals in mind.
Mee was of interest to Leicester Tigers and Bristol before moving to Wales from Nottingham and made his first Test appearances in the Six Nations.
Dan Edwards, the 21-year-old Ospreys fly-half, also made his international debut in the Championship just finished and is another with admirers in England.
Wales hooker Dewi Lake, a captain of his country under Gatland, was a target for Sale before he committed to the Ospreys at the start of the year on a short-term extension.
Young Ospreys fly-half Dan Edwards won his first two Wales caps in the 2025 Championship
Had Lake moved to Sale, he would have become ineligible for Welsh duty and that was understood to have played a big part in his decision.
Alex Sanderson’s Sharks have moved for Nathan Jibulu of Harlequins instead.
WRU chief executive Abi Tierney’s current focus is on finalising the three key appointments and new ‘One Wales’ agreement strategy that will define the future of Welsh rugby.
Tierney hopes the agreement can increase the squad budgets of the four domestic sides, therefore allowing them to keep hold of their best players and be more competitive in the United Rugby Championship as well as in Europe.
Leicester’s England Under-20 cap Malelili Satala-Navlivou is of interest to Edinburgh who are set to lose Scotland prop Javan Sebastian to Welsh side Cardiff.
