This deadline has been provided to try and agree the new PRA as quickly as possible, but the current deal has more than a year left to run until the end of the 2025-26 season.

A clause in that contract says "the WRU may terminate this agreement by giving the company no less than two years' notice in writing to expire at the end of the relevant agreement year".

That can only occur if the "Professional Rugby Board (PRB) recommends the same as part of an objective review of professional rugby". It is understood no such review has happened yet.

That policy would also not align with the desire to keep four professional sides in Wales, which was a crucial factor presented in the decision to save Cardiff.

The WRU said Welsh rugby would have been heavily penalised financially by the United Rugby Championship (URC) and European authorities if they did not continue to provide four sides for their competitions.

It is not the first deadline the WRU has set this season. In August 2024, a more stark three-hour deadline was issued to the Wales women squad during contract negotiations.

On that occasion, there was a "final offer" ultimatum, saying if they did not sign new contracts within three hours they would be withdrawn, planned matches against New Zealand, Scotland and Australia would not go ahead and they could pull the Wales women's team out of the 2025 World Cup.

The threat was not acted upon and the WRU executive leadership later apologised and accepted it was a mistake.