THE leading Welsh rugby clubs insist they are not bluffing over the sensational plan to withdraw players from the Wales team to face Scotland on April 6.

They are adamant that unless the WRU come up with double the money to enable them to compete with other countries the players will be pulled from the Scotland game.

The six clubs -- Newport, Cardiff, Llanelli, Swansea, Pontypridd and Bridgend -- say the number of clubs at premier level and reform of the WRU are not the major issues.

Funding is what it is all about and the need for the Union to raise their money to around £1.5m per club each season to bring them more into line with English clubs, who receive £2m and fellow Celts Ireland and Scotland who get £1.6m.

It would also lessen the dependence on benefactors who have been putting in millions of their own money to be able to compete in Europe. If action is taken it will deliberately involve the Scotland game because that will hit the WRU hardest.

And they will not fall foul of International Board regulations because the players are contracted to a joint venture company which is outside IRB regulations. The players are paid by the clubs and in view of the contracts they have signed they would have little choice other than strike.

"If the WRU call the bluff of the clubs it would be disastrous," said Newport owner Tony Brown.

"We are being very reasonable in what we are asking for considering we are in competition with other unions who are assisting the club game continuously. "In Wales they sit in their ivory towers and assume the game will go on.

"I am not looking to make money or for a return, only for the club to be in a position to break even when I am no longer around.

And in a chilling message Brown warns: "The clubs and the players are as one on this."

*PICTURED: Internationals like Newport's Andy Marinos may be pulled from the Wales team.