THE gravity of the situation in Welsh rugby cannot be emphasised strongly enough.

Unless a solution to the long running problems is found almost immediately the game won't just be hanging on the edge of a precipice, it will go right over the edge.

Just like Great Britain and America have to go to war without waiting for the rest of the prevaricators and appeasers, so WRU chief David Moffett and the premier clubs must come to an agreement without further delay.

It's all gone on long enough now, and the rugby argument about stand alone clubs seems much less relevant because of the big player drain that is about to explode.

Sure, I still believe Newport ought to stand alone, even more so if Llanelli and Cardiff are going to do just that.

But I recognise it is an argument based on emotion, tradition and history whereas in the year 2003 it is really all about money and power, those twin evils.

Let's make the Newport situation crystal clear.

If it had not been for Tony Brown, his wealth and his generosity it would no longer be a premier club. When he came in Newport were on the brink of relegation, a fate they would have suffered had Cardiff and Swansea not done their own thing and left the Welsh set-up to play cross-border friendlies.

That, ironically, is what precipitated the loyalty agreements which were signed to keep clubs in Wales and which have been used by them for their own ends, though Moffett is now threatening to tear them up.

So Newport survived and Brown then made sure they flourished with a massive injection of money and a number of huge signings.

The good times rolled for a few years, but it was always going to end in tears given the utter ineptitude of the WRU and their inability to sort out the professional game.

Reports were commissioned and ditched and the WRU plunged ever more into debt.

The club game began to suffer and decline while the benefactors like Brown started to question their commitment without any real assistance from above.

And so to the bitter battle of recent months as Moffett tried to sort out the future of the game financially and structurally.

Self interest has remained with some clubs wishing to remain as they are while others were prepared to combine to survive and concentrate the few top players into less teams.

But it has all gone on too long, and the Swansea situation when they went into administration last week has really concentrated minds.

Their dilemma is actually quite sad. Listening to a player like Arwel Thomas say at Rodney Parade on Saturday that it was probably the last time they would all appear together for Swansea brought the reality of the situation home.

Swansea happen to be the first to raise the white flag, but without Brown it could well have been Newport. But for all that, there does remain one final chance tomorrow night for Newport rugby people to do something about it if they want the club to retain its identity.

I still believe it would be a tragedy to see Newport cease to exist as a top flight club after nearly 130 years - don't give me that rubbish about retaining identity when they would simply be a development or provincial feeder side in the First Division.

But we really are drinking in the last chance saloon now. The leading players have had enough of all the uncertainty and lots of them are negotiating deals elsewhere as they are on the brink of leaving for more security elsewhere.

Either there has got to be agreement on the way ahead almost overnight or someone has got to give in if the game in Wales is to survive. Whatever Moffett and others are saying publicly there is still a real possibility of five teams.

Neath could now see themselves as the dominant partner with Swansea and if they do join then Bridgend would go with Pontypridd. Newport and Ebbw Vale have long since come to an agreement which would leave Cardiff and Llanelli standing alone.

Newport members and shareholders will have to come up with at least half-a-million pounds tomorrow night to avoid that.

But it could well be too late, and unless there is a deal for four or five teams by the end of this week then players will go and Welsh domestic rugby will become like Welsh soccer.

Just as it is elsewhere in the world, the clock is ticking. In Wales it's about to stop altogether.