Former Wales coach Wayne Pivac believes the Scarlets and Ospreys should have merged when he was in charge of the west Wales region.
Pivac, who was axed as Wales coach at the end of last year, gave his views when appearing as a pundit on Viaplay's live coverage of the Scarlets v Edinburgh match on Saturday evening.
He questioned whether there is enough money in the Welsh game to properly finance four Welsh regions and urged bosses to sort out the ongoing mess as soon as possible.
Asked by fellow pundit Tom Shanklin if he thought the dispute between the WRU, regions and players could be fixed, he said: "It can be fixed and it has to be fixed for the good of Welsh rugby. I've been here nine years and there have been issues right throughout that period. Ultimately you have a certain pool of money that can only go so far. It is spread thinly over four [teams].
"I had a view around the merger between Scarlets and Ospreys. I thought that was going to be a great thing for Welsh rugby and then bring north Wales in. That was a personal view but it wasn't to be.
"These things are out there. It's challenging for the players, it's challenging for the staff. Something has to be done very, very quickly."
The Scarlets and Ospreys came close to merging in 2019 before the proposal fell apart at the last minute amid much acrimony.
The financial strain on the game in Wales and failure for the union and regions to finalise a funding agreement going forward has led to players threatening to strike for next weekend's scheduled Six Nations match against England. You can read the latest on the situation here.
Pivac, though, believes that disaster will be averted.
"It is definitely the last resort. There's not a player there who won't want to play against England. I can't see it happening because if we do that it is going to hurt a lot of people financially.
"I certainly feel for the players but it's nothing new to be discussing contracts during a competition."
Would you support Welsh rugby players taking strike action amid contracts turmoil? Have your say here
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