THE Welsh Rugby Union and Newport Gwent Dragons remain at loggerheads - still no resolution to their troubles, still no movement and still no money coming to one of the four main regions.

Anyone outside Wales would regard it as a joke to hear that the one team with a victory to their credit in the Heineken Cup, after eight Welsh attempts, was basically daggers drawn with the governing body.

They certainly wouldn't believe it if they were told that the one region with something to shout about, with one victory on the board in Europe was not being paid. How, then, are they surviving?

The answer to that is in the main through the generosity of their two main directors Tony Brown and Martyn Hazell who are basically putting their hands in their back pocket, or drawing on their own bank accounts, to pay the players and staff.

It's a crazy situation, one which the WRU amazingly seem prepared to allow drift on and on without resolution.

There appears to be no effort to resolve the situation either which is even more staggering.

Sure, the Dragons have refused to sign the participation agreement, unlike the other three regions.

But they feel they have good cause when they are being treated as a region by the WRU but being paid as a stand alone entity.

The law even suggests they have a good case, though no-one really wants to go down that road.

But why isn't WRU chief David Moffett getting together with the region, why hasn't he invited Tony Brown and Martyn Hazell down to meet him? Why isn't he trying to sort out the impasse as a matter of urgency?

The Dragons are now the flag bearers for Wales in Europe, the one side with a chance still of making the Heineken Cup quarter-finals, yet the WRU are content not to pay them.

There's something wrong somewhere here. I thought the purpose of the WRU was to govern.

Well, I don't see any signs of them governing here, washing their hands of it would be more appropriate. It just isn't good enough.

I also don't subscribe to the view that the Welsh regions are lagging that far behind their rivals in Europe.

One victory could easily have been four or five, so narrow have been the margins in some cases.

But for Llanelli director of rugby Gareth Jenkins to call for the introduction of more overseas players in his ranks leads to the words pot, kettle and black coming to mind pretty readily.

The real worry is not so much a losing streak in Europe - that can be put right.

It's more a case of the poor quality competition Welsh teams are playing in.

It's pretty clear that Scottish rugby is really in turmoil going nowhere fast. Their club scene has been destroyed and the regions have just not caught on, apart from almost drowning in a sea of mediocrity.

Results are awful, the Borders may not even last much longer while Edinburgh and Glasgow have to put up with paltry crowds.

Murrayfield was almost empty on Sunday for the Edinburgh-Dragons game, just 2,450 attending and around 600 of those were Dragons fans.

There was no match programme - for a Heineken cup-tie - just a sheet of paper with two teams on it and precious little was laid on for the fans, many of whom had to abandon ship and head for a nearby pub afterwards.

And the attitude of the Irish teams towards the Celtic League is at best lukewarm. Sure they give it a go in the Heineken Cup where they raise their game, but their attitude in the Celtic competition leaves a lot to be desired.

They rarely field a full strength side and Munster and Leinster appear to lay very little importance on the Celtic competition.

So that leaves Welsh teams playing against poor Scottish opposition and disinterested Irish, hardly what the doctor ordered.

But there is nowhere else to go which has to be a real concern for the future.

Yet another area of real concern for the WRU, if they can be bothered to address that one as well.