Dafydd Jenkins says Wales exodus to England can help home game

Wales players moving to England could end up helping Wales. That is the view of Exeter lock Dafydd Jenkins.

The 23-year-old second row — the tall forwards who push in the scrum and jump in the lineout, the contested throw-in — told BBC Sport the summer exodus to the Prem, England's top club division, can improve the game back home.

The clearest example came on opening day. Wales captain Jac Morgan and hooker Dewi Lake left the Ospreys for Gloucester in the summer and both featured in Gloucester's win away at Exeter.

Jenkins knows that ground well. He has spent all his senior career at Exeter's Sandy Park and has started all three of the club's league matches this season.

He led Exeter to June's Prem final at Twickenham, scoring a try in defeat by Northampton Saints. He hurt his shoulder in that game and needed surgery.

That operation ruled him out of Wales' Nations Championship matches against South Africa, Argentina and Fiji in July. He had started all five of Wales' Six Nations games before the injury.

Jenkins also knows Morgan and Lake well. He captained Wales aged just 21 during the 2024 Six Nations when the pair were absent.

His argument is simple. If senior internationals take deals in England, it frees up minutes in the United Rugby Championship, the league that houses Wales' four professional teams, for the next crop of Welsh youngsters.

For fans, this means a trade-off. Wales lose familiar faces from home squads, but gain hardened players in England and clearer pathways at home.