The Newport-Ebbw Vale merger is under threat

Club chairman Marcus Russell has said that people should ignore the "derogatory" comments of Newport chairman David Watkins and concentrate on taking Welsh rugby forward.

Watkins told BBC Wales' Scrum V programme that he would be surprised if the proposed partnership between the two clubs went ahead next season.

But Russell has reaffirmed Ebbw Vale determination to make regional rugby a success, and to rise above the game's "tribalism and self interest".

Said Russell: "Now is not the time for bickering. It is the time for positive progressive action.

"I will not waver in my responsibilities to play a part in setting up a new Gwent region, support their newly appointed Head Coach and Chief Executive, and establish Ebbw Vale RFC as a vibrant and productive semi professional force next season."

Watkins, though, had particularly harsh words for Russell's role in the on-going process of creating the new side.

"He (Russell) might be a pop star manager, but he brings nothing credible as a rugby manager," said Watkins of the Oasis manager.

Watkins does not believe regional rugby will start next season

The BBC's rugby expert Eddie Butler has been an advocate of playing games in the Gwent region away from Rodney Parade, and he suggested that Newport were becoming isolated.

"No club north of Newport trusts them," said Butler, "They don't have a good record on or off the field."

Welsh Rugby Union group chief executive David Moffett told Scrum V that he was upset with the continual squabbling in the Welsh game.

"It's disappointing - you can reach agreement around a table but people go away and change their opinions," said Moffett.

"The WRU are working hard behind the scenes, but the regions have to sort out communication issues themselves."

Gwent is not the only discontented region, Bridgend owner Leighton Samuel expressing his anger at the launch of new teams when Wales' star players will be absent on World Cup duty.

"Next season is not the best time to launch a new competition and I think it will be a disaster," he said.

Major arguments concerning funding still face the regions, problems that have not been helped by a transfer war for the signatures of the country's leading players.

"There are teams who have not kept their words and are offering ridiculous cash incentives to players," said Samuel.

The regions went away and wasted their spare cash in a transfer war - there was no need to do that David Moffett

The regions also claim that the WRU has backed out of a promise to deliver an extra �250,000 in funding for next season, a charge that Moffett disputes.

"I'll address that issue in private," said Moffett, "but even so the regions went away and wasted their spare cash in a transfer war - there was no need to do that."

Despite the problems, Moffett remained upbeat over the plans for next season.

"We're trying to put in place something new and exciting," he said. "It will be successful - it'll take time, but it will be."