Ebbw Vale and Wales A coach Mike Ruddock has criticised David Moffett's proposal to scrap this season's Wales A fixtures.

Moffett put the idea forward at a general committee meeting as the latest money-saving venture for the cash-strapped WRU.

But Ruddock, who was lured from his role at Leinster with the promise of the Wales A job, said: "Personally I'd be gutted if that happened.

"We won four out of our five Six Nations games last season and gave a lot of players opportunities they wouldn't otherwise have received.

The Millennium Stadium is a ball and chain around the leg of Welsh rugby Marcus Russell

"Senior players like Mefin Davies and Gareth Llewellyn were given a chance and we brought on youngsters like Robert Sidoli, Michael Owen and Dafydd Jones.

"I hope the team isn't cut, but if it's needed for the survival of Welsh rugby, so be it."

Wales A would face expensive trips to Italy, Scotland and France in the 2003 Six Nations. Last season their only journeys were to Cork and Bristol.

Other cost-cutting measures implemented by the Union have seen job losses at the WRU and a plan to cut back on trips made by members of the committee.

Moffett has introduced a series of cost-cutting measures

If those measures are unlikely to worry the fans, there are fears that other cutbacks could harm the game at grassroots level and the investment in future talent.

Ebbw Vale Chairman Marcus Russell said that the massive debt the WRU still owed for the Millennium Stadium was the cause of all the trouble, describing it as a "ball and chain around the leg of Welsh rugby."

The Union pays �1.2m per annum to service the �60m debt still outstanding on the stadium.

Russell warned that if there was no reduction on the debt then further financial chaos would follow.