CROSS Keys coach David Rees, pictured, has branded opposition to regional rugby "criminal" and claims the move has brought ambition back to the Welsh game.

He says he will be happy to develop players for the Gwent Dragons, believing it will also strengthen his Welsh Premier Division outfit.

In giving strong backing to Dragons coach Mike Ruddock and Wales' new structure, Rees realises he will upset some areas.

But he is convinced the moves have brought "an air of sanity" back to Welsh rugby and says if change is not grasped now, it never will be.

"Unless people at the top, senior coaches and people in my position force the regional issue I don't think we'll ever change," said Rees, one of the brightest young coaches in the Principality.

"If we don't give positive vibes towards making the regional set-up successful we're on a loser. We've all got to buy into it. The clubs and people who say 'we don't want it and won't buy into it' are stuck in the past. It's criminal some of the things being said.

"There are young kids with me who deserve a chance. I don't want to be filling their heads that they should be playing for Cross Keys because it's the best club in the world.

"I want to fill their heads with wanting to play for Wales. "That was instilled in me as a kid. I wanted a cap. And the only way of getting it was by a series of progressions which I believe are now back in the Welsh game.

"Clubs who are insular and continue to be typically Welsh in their attitude are not going to help progress.

"We've got to grow up and we've got to help Mike Ruddock make the Gwent region one of the strongest in Wales."

Rees says Cross Keys will continue to be a development club and will not prevent anyone's progress, believing they will continue to benefit from this policy.

"We're reaping the benefits of having laid down a development policy over the years," he said.

"Three of the quality players who have returned to us, Will Thomas, Tyron Morris and Scott Mitchell, are Cross Keys boys who played junior rugby for the club and, in the case of two, senior rugby, too.

"They were given our blessing to try to play rugby full time.

"We never inhibited their development and progress and we never, ever bought in and paid astronomical amounts for players.

"So we are reaping the rewards of establishing a club development and contractual policy that has helped us in this transition to a new era. That policy remains.

"An interesting reason some players have joined us is that they still have ambitons to play full time regional rugby but have been unlucky first time around.

"We've told them that if they are offered a contract, be it mid-season or at the end, they will be released.

"One senior professional who joined us said one reason was that we had recruited players who still want to play regional rugby and not players who are just going to look after Cross Keys as a club.

"But in the long term that policy does look after the club because if those players leave, they will hopefully return as we have seen this season. "For the first time in ten seasons of recruiting there's an air of sanity and reality back in the game in Wales.

"There's a way to go, but the key is that ambition is back and players want to play at the regional and Premier levels.

"Its been refreshing that with young players I've spoken to, the first question they've asked is 'am I going to play rugby?' and not 'how much am I going to get?'

"It's been a fantastic recruitment with some young and exciting backs.

"What's nice about it is that a lot of people won't know who they are and that enthrals and excites me because I can develop them and hopefully pass them on to the region or to better things."

Rees concluded: "One of the indicators by which I will judge myself this season is how many of my players make a regional appearance by the end. I hope it will be three or four.

"I'm fully on board with the regional concept and with the progress made to improve the Welsh set-up."