WELSH rugby chief Glanmor Griffiths (pictured) insists the future structure should be based around the clubs and that Wales should NOT form 'manufactured' regional teams.

In an exclusive interview with the South Wales Argus, the first part of which we publish in our sports supplement today, WRU chairman Griffiths says there is no enthusiasm for regional rugby.

But he accuses clubs of living beyond their means and says the WRU can't bail them out. "Let's face it, the club system has always been the great strength of Welsh rugby and is accepted as still being so by the WRU general committee," Griffiths told the Argus.

"In fact, it is difficult to find much enthusiasm or support for creating regional teams in Wales.

"There are inherent dangers and difficulties in creating such 'super' teams. Once you have distilled your best players down into a handful of newly manufactured teams there is no way back.

"Our clubs are highly respected and regarded around the world and I for one would not like to see them effectively relegated to semi-professional status or worse.

"However, the professional level of our game is proving hugely expensive to run and clubs are in danger of going out of business by living beyond their means.

"The Welsh Rugby Union is not in a position to bail them out. It means we are having to examine ways to find the right number of teams at the top of our league system and are constantly trying to find ways in which to improve our revenue streams.

"We have a product that everybody wants a piece of, yet few are prepared to pay the price for at club level.

"It takes a huge amount of marketing to bring in the fans at Welsh/Scottish League level and costs a fortune to run.

"That's why we have looked to develop a more exciting product in the form of a Celtic League.

"It had a good first season and looks like offering the Welsh clubs a solid way forward. "But the future is definitely based around clubs, rather than manufactured regional teams. That is the opinion of not only the clubs, but also the WRU.

"The clubs have produced the players that have allowed Wales to remain the only team in the Northern Hemisphere that has beaten all its Six Nations rivals more times than it has lost to them.

"The Union sees no reason for the club system to be replaced - it is still our greatest strength.

"International rugby provides the cash to keep the development programmes running, the schools and youth levels buoyant and the clubs viable.

"Rugby has always been a tough business on the field. Nowadays, it is an increasingly competitive and unforgiving sport off the field as well.

"The WRU is determined to work to find the right shape and structure for the most important game in Wales."