BLACKWOOD reckon the prospect of dropping out of the semi-professional game in Wales under the proposed provincial rugby scheme could spell disaster for them.

Plans for a larger Premier Division, made up of top-tier outfits and some First Division sides, are expected to be part of the package that the Union's EGM will vote on next month.

All nine top-flight clubs would be included and either five or six (under one option) or three clubs from the First Division.

But for teams like Blackwood, who have worked their way through the National League to achieve their current semi-pro status in the First Division, the idea of missing out on a place in the revised Premier Division and becoming amateur again is worrying.

It would mean them falling back into a lower league where the limited money those clubs receive from the WRU could not be used to pay players. It would leave Blackwood and others like them with little prospect of being competitive enough to gain promotion back to the semi-professional Premier Division again.

Blackwood coach Mark Thomas (pictured) said: "We have worked so hard to get where we are. "You can lose out by one position and one point at the end of the day. There has to be a cut-off point and we are on the border of it at the moment (they are mid-table).

"If the idea is to take the top five or six into the Premier Division, it would be a bit unfair. It would ruin a club like Blackwood (to miss out).

"Everyone wants the best for Welsh rugby, but you have to think of your own situation as well.

"If they are moving the goalposts in mid-session, it's a bit unfair. If we had known that we would have known at the start of the season we had to finish very high up, and we could have recruited some other players."

And it is not just Blackwood who are facing the prospect of becoming amateurs again.

Pontypool are probably the only certainties from Gwent to join the top flight teams as they head the First Division and are on course to finally win the championship.

Others, though, like Cross Keys, Newbridge and Bedwas have to put wins together throughout the remaining months in order to climb the table and get inside any proposed cut-off point.