Welsh Rugby Union Row
England coach Clive Woodward
LONDON (AFP) - England coach Clive Woodward has criticised the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) over its decision to scrap its A or reserve team for next year's Six Nations.
Every season an A team championship runs in parallel with the main Six Nations tournament and is used by countries to assess players' potential for top flight internationals.
"I'd be very disappointed if this happened. The A games are a good development tool for the Six Nations countries, and this seems to be taking things in the wrong direction," Woodward told Tuesday's Guardian newspaper.
David Moffett, the recently appointed chief executive of the WRU, wants to end the 33-year-old tradition of Wales A matches as he bids to make annual cuts of one million pounds (1.59 million dollars) from the cash-strapped governing body's budget.
It is estimated that scrapping the five European A games will save the WRU 170,000 pounds (270,300 dollars).
However, a Wales A tour of Fiji is still planned to take place in the northern summer after the conclusion of the current season.
Moffett, 55, was born in England but moved to Australia 40 years ago. He was formerly chief executive of SANZAR, the co-coordinating body running the Tri-Nations tournament involving South Africa, New Zealand and Australia.
He then became the first non-Kiwi to be appointed chief executive of the New Zealand Rugby Football Union in 1996.
Three years later he was put in charge of Australia's National Rugby League.
And before his October appointment as the WRU's first chief executive, Moffett spent 10 months in charge of British Government funding agency Sport England.
Among other cuts planned by Moffett at the WRU are the loss of 25 more jobs at its Cardiff offices, which are set to be moved to cheaper premises.
And, in future, senior Wales players will have to pay for all their hotel extras when they are out of the country on international duty.