DAVID Moffett is back in town - and he’s wasted no time in firing a few bullets, as we came to expect in his time as WRU group chief executive which ended as abruptly as it began with his sudden resignation three years ago.

A huge shock greeted the nation as people awoke from their slumbers yesterday morning.

This was because the troubleshooter from Down Under who upset so many, who was responsible for ditching club rugby at the top level in favour of regions and for making a series of redundancies while getting the debt down heavily was not just back, but heading a new body called Premier Rugby Wales against his former employers!

Many must have choked on their cereal - I know I did.

We knew an announcement of some sort was imminent from the regions and we knew they had no intention of stepping down in their row with the WRU over the release of their players, but no-one was quite prepared for the shock return of Moffett.

And it wasn’t long before he swung into action on behalf of the regions he set up even if those in the Rhondda and some parts of Gwent who feel disenfranchised will never forgive him for virtually making their areas a rugby wasteland.

“The landscape has changed,” he claimed.

“The regions have been much more supportive of Welsh rugby than any other organisation around the world.

“They released them for 190 days prior to last year’s World Cup, no-one else did that, then the WRU chief executive tore up the agreement and told them it was no longer on the table, so you get the reaction to that and the regions feel aggrieved.

“There are all sorts of issues we are going to address urgently.

“The only way forward is to have decision makers around the table - for the regions it’s me, now the WRU need to come to the table to make things work.

“I have a track record of working in the best interests of Welsh rugby.”

Moffett claims any appeal by the WRU to the IRB will be unsuccessful. “In line with the participation agreement they (Wales) are supposed to advise the training requirements, but it was not done,” he said.

“The EDF Energy Cup is very important to the Welsh regions who always take their involvement in every competition seriously - and this is a competition the WRU were responsible for putting in place.

“When Warren Gatland was at Wasps he fought against the release of players, now the shoe is on the other foot, you can’t have it both ways.

“The IRB are unlikely to be of any assistance if one of their own members doesn’t stipulate the time players will be available for training.

“And when the IRB found in favour of Scotland in their row with the English clubs over the release of players that was different as it was between two countries whereas this is a self contained issue.”