Wales Mess Up Flight to New Zealand

Welsh rugby has frequently been accused of missing the boat in recent years, but its current national squad went one better and managed to miss a flight to New Zealand yesterday.

The players refused to board their coach bound for Heathrow airport until a row over insurance had been resolved, the Welsh Rugby Union having refused to take out cover and insisted that the clubs foot the bill.

The players were due to leave the Vale of Glamorgan hotel at 10.30am for their 4.15pm flight to Auckland, but at that time they were in fact eight miles away at another hotel airing their grievances to their association representative, the former Wales captain Scott Quinnell.

The WRU's chief executive David Moffett and his general manager Steve Lewis were summoned from Cardiff to meet Quinnell and a compromise was reached which saw the players get on the coach over two hours late.

They were further delayed on the M4 because their coach would go no faster than 62.5mph and there was an accident close to Newbury which caused a five-mile tailback. They arrived at Heathrow just after the gates for their flight had closed.

The 35-strong party checked into a hotel near to the airport and the players were told they would have to pick up the £55-a-night tab, the WRU having paid some £150,000 for the business-class return tickets. They were then booked on to the 4.15 flight this afternoon but it was uncertain whether the party would be able to travel together; some may face a second night at Heathrow.

"This is a very frustrating time for all involved," said the team manager Alan Phillips.

The players have been in dispute with the WRU for the past month over pay and conditions after the decision to pay them according to results rather than appearances, a policy adopted despite the Wales coach Steve Hansen continually insisting that performances mattered far more than results.

"Things have been boiling up for a while," said one player last night. "We accept that the union is in a parlous financial position and that cutbacks have to be made, but there should be no scrimping where insurance is concerned because our livelihoods are at stake. We felt we were not being taken seriously and what we have now found is that unity is strength: there are other areas we should be campaigning on such as the time we spend away from home on national duty and the length of the season."

Quinnell had driven the eight miles from the Vale of Glamorgan to the hotel where the players had parked their cars and they had agreed to get on the coach by a majority vote, with some still voicing their concerns.

"We did not cave in," said Moffett. "We reached an agreement with the players and we are delighted that they committed themselves to the tour. I am surprised and disappointed that we found ourselves in this position at such a late hour and I accept that the Welsh rugby public has become fed up with a lot of what is happening in the game."

It was not the send-off the Kiwi Hansen wanted before he returned home. His contract runs out next May and he has started talking to the WRU about a possible two-year extension, but the Leeds director of rugby Phil Davies, the former Wales No8, has emerged as the favourite to take over after guiding his club to Heineken Cup rugby two years after winning promotion to the Zurich Premiership.

"To suggest that this issue has created a rift between the management and the players would be totally inaccurate," said Hansen last night. "We are all in this together."