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Christmas, the season of goodwill? There has been precious little festive cheer in the world of rugby administrators during the last few weeks.

All the different parties keep on point scoring and manoeuvring while the power brokers decide the future of professional rugby in the northern hemisphere.

England’s clubs are the architects of this split, having steadfastly refused to have anything to do with the ERC.

Initially they had a fair point but most of the substantive concerns regarding the Heineken Cup have been conceded. Now they have backed themselves into a corner. They are isolated and desperate to fill the blanks in their fixture list.

So what do they do? Offer the Welsh regions a tempting slice of their enormous BT pie?

On the face of it, this is a very attractive solution to the plight of the regions in Wales.

An Anglo-Welsh league would reignite the interests of supporters and the regions may even be able to prevent the odd superstar from fleeing across the border to England or France by offering a competitive wage package.

We would return to traditional Saturday afternoon fixtures between old rivals.

There would be bumper crowds and singing in the club houses. Ideal, where do I sign up?

But beware the Greeks bearing gifts. To me this is not a solution, but a convenient way for the English clubs to strengthen their bargaining position until a real deal is thrashed out.

The English clubs don’t care about the financial future of the Welsh regions, they just need a few fixtures and the regions are the only ones that can fill that gap.

The sacrifice that the regions would have to make is to break away from the WRU without any security of a long-term future. The regions may argue that unless a bold statement is made they have no long-term future anyway under the current arraignment of chronic underfunding.

Maybe the regions feel they have to roll the dice for the last time because unless a substantial investment is forthcoming from somewhere they are facing oblivion no matter what.

It follows that like the English clubs, the regions would be out of the Heineken Cup. Is that a wise step? Yes, the weekly standard of rugby would probably improve but it would not reach the heights that we see when French and Irish sides clash in the Heineken Cup.

The Heineken Cup is a level or two higher than England’s Aviva League and the regions would be out of that European competition.

I think it would also be rather disloyal of the regions to turn their backs on the Irish and Scottish sides and effectively consign domestic professional rugby in those two countries to the history books.

How could Munster or Leinster survive without a fixture list? Scottish rugby is on its knees already. The dissolution of the Rabo Direct Pro12 could be the death knell of rugby in Scotland.

This is where I feel that there is a greater responsibility to ensure the sustainability of rugby in the Six Nations.

Freezing out Ireland and Scotland could result in those countries becoming unable to field sides that could compete on an international level. The Six Nations would be devalued.

Make no mistake, France and England will look after themselves.

They are rich and populous countries, but for how long would the ruthless businessmen who are bank rolling those two leagues be prepared to give the regions the scraps from their table?

Do you really trust the English to do what is in the best interest of Wales?

Eight hundred years of oppression should have taught us to be cautious.

The other thing that puzzles me is how this would work out practically.

Lawsuits would be issued like Christmas cards as agreements signed in good faith are unilaterally ended. Could all these issues between the union, the regions and broadcasters be resolved ahead of next year’s season?

Ultimately the regions are faced with insufficient funds to hold onto their players and are therefore not competitive.

At the same time their players are performing miracles in the Millennium Stadium helping the WRU pay off huge amounts of the stadium debt. The WRU is sitting pretty while the regions fight for their lives.

The WRU on the other hand see the damning PWC report into the financial and commercial management of the regions as sufficient justification not to throw good money after bad into these dysfunctional organisations.

Being utterly honest, I have some sympathy for this point of view but where I think the WRU is taking a dangerous risk in not keeping players in Wales.

If Wales loses its link with elite rugby players and there is no top level rugby on show in Wales, then who knows how for how long the people will have that cherished relationship with the oval ball. Is this a gamble worth taking?

I am convinced that in a few months or even a year that this issue will be resolved.

All the stakeholders need a vibrant European Cup because it’s a great competition and the money it generates is substantial.

In the meantime England’s clubs want us to be their wing-man, but I fear we would be their stooges.

Gwyn Jones is part of the commentary team on S4C’s rugby coverage. Watch highlights of the Heineken Cup matches on the Cwpan Heineken show on S4C on Friday and Saturday nights at 10.00pm. To find out more, visit s4c.co.uk .