WRU boss defends Heineken flops

The Dragons players leave the field dejected after defeat to Newcastle

Welsh Rugby Union chief executive David Moffett says the new regional club structure is not to blame for Wales' unprecedented Heineken Cup failure.

For the first time in the Cup's 10-year history, no Welsh team has qualified for the quarter-final stage.

But Moffett said: "We're not happy obviously, but give us time. We said it was going to be a four-year plan and we are one and a half years into it.

"Overall I think we are going in the right direction."

The Scarlets, Ospreys and Blues were out of contention for the quarter-finals even before the final round of pool matches.

And the Dragons completed the unwanted clean-sweep after losing a must-win match against Newcastle Falcons on Sunday.

A slow start to the competition had given the Welsh sides an impossible task, according to Moffett.

"If the Scarlets, Ospreys and Dragons would have won those home games in the first two weeks, we'd be sitting here having a totally different conversation," he told BBC Wales Sport.

We're moving forward together and hopefully next year we'll have a better Heineken Cup WRU chief executive David Moffett

"It's about those incremental areas of improvement and we're going to get those.

"We have a whole raft of strategies we're putting in place right across the board and we're just going to have to accept we are not quite there yet. But we will get there."

He added: "Llanelli have been carrying the flag pretty much on their own [in this competition].

"Nobody else was really getting a sniff outside the first couple of years when Cardiff got there.

"But I think we are going in the right direction. We must accept also that all the other teams aren't standing still waiting for us to catch up.

"They're strengthening their squads and the French particularly don't have a money issue. They can throw money at will at players - often ones not from their own country. "

Welsh fans will at least have some interest in the quarter-finals.

Captain Gareth Thomas has made it through with Toulouse and Colin Charvis was part of the Falcons side that denied the Dragons.

Moffett, though, admitted it was disappointing that two of Wales' best players were playing such instrumental roles for non-Welsh sides.

"It's very sad for Welsh rugby that those guys are playing abroad," said Moffett.

"But I tend to think the way they are playing over there, they are going to come back and strengthen the national side.

"We are in an open market place and we have to accept that. We're doing our best to ensure we do keep talent here and develop Welsh talent.

"We'll be doing that in conjunction with the four regional teams. We've got a really good working relationship.

"We're moving forward together and hopefully next year we'll have a better Heineken Cup."