WELSH rugby will be dead if the First Division proposal to increase the premier division to 12 clubs is accepted at the extraordinary meeting of all the clubs on April 7.

That is the stark warning from Newport chief executive Keith Grainger (pictured) at the decision of the WRU to do an about-turn and call the meeting.

Only last week they agreed to cut the number of clubs to six and provide the extra money the clubs claim they need to compete in Europe on the same footing as the other countries.

That avoided a strike by the players and Wales will play England at Twickenham on Saturday with their recognised team. But within days of reaching agreement with the leading clubs the WRU have said they will accept at the extraordinary meeting the proposal by the First Division clubs to increase the number to 12, all of them Welsh with the Scottish sides dropped.

"If this goes through rugby at elite level will be dead and will go semi-professional," warned Grainger, who is due to attend an emergency meeting of the leading clubs later today.

"It's a desperately serious position for the game as a whole," he stressed. "It needs money to finance it and with nine clubs there is not enough funding at the top level to field competitive sides.

"When we finally got the WRU to recognise the need for funding for the top clubs it appears that the grass roots clubs are about to press the self-destruct button. "Everyone connected with the top level including Steve Hansen, Graham Henry, Scott Quinnell and the players have nailed their colours to the mast in terms of what the game needs.

"That is radical change without which the game in Wales would effectively die at top level.

"I would be surprised if any of the six investors would remain in the game if the WRU do not uphold their promise to reduce the number of top clubs in the short term. "The choice is now up to the Union. If they don't move to six they have been told what will happen -- the backers will move out and the players won't play."

Bridgend backer Leighton Samuel has already accused the WRU of conning them. Grainger added: "The internal wranglings will seem as nothing when all the implications of running a business in an amateurish fashion become apparent -- Six Nations TV contract, international sponsors, commercial partners for the elite game at club level would walk away.

"Wales will be left with an uncompetitive game not moving forward. Why invest in a club when it is going to be given £1m less than it is now?"

Newbridge chairman Idris McCarthy countered by saying "In the District A (Gwent) meeting most clubs felt we needed a different system. We had a meeting of Division One clubs all the way down and the proposition we came up with was to go to 12.

"The biggest thing wrong with Welsh rugby is players are not playing, but sitting on the benches. If we cap squads to 32 they will all play and get stronger. With a division of 12 the ones at the top will get a bigger share of the money.

"They haven't got enough fixtures to generate revenue. Nobody is being railroaded, it's just common sense."