Living with the aftermath, one year on

It's almost a year since Wales' professional players threatened strike action on the eve of a Six Nations clash with England

By Steffan Thomas and Ben James

Valentine's Day, 2023.

Naturally, it kicked off with the message all romantic rugby writers long to read.
"Are you doing anything with Willis' tweets?" read the WhatsApp message from a source at Cardiff.

Truthfully, we hadn't seen the tweet of Wales and Cardiff centre Halaholo, who posted "Must be nice knowing you can still provide for your kids in about four months..." right as most rugby scribes were readying themselves to break away from this all-consuming game to head out for a Valentine's Day meal.

In this instance, Halaholo's tweet was simply the match that lit the fuse on a remarkable week - even by Welsh rugby's standards.

Those 15 words from Halaholo prompted the publication of a story that would bring the Welsh game to a standstill, with a threat of strike action proposed ahead of the match against England. At the time there was a contractual freeze in place at all four professional sides in Wales.

To make matters worse, some players were forced to make a choice between securing their futures and giving up their international careers due to the much-maligned 60-cap law, which eventually got cut to 25 caps.

A year on, the ramifications are still being felt.