But he also harbours two chief regrets from his three years in office. Moffett failed to introduce central contracts in Wales and he could not push through a change to the seasonal structure in the northern hemisphere.

And it is those two issues Moffett believes pose a deadly threat to the game in Wales, Ireland and Scotland.

“If rugby keeps going the way it is in this part of the world it will be played professionally in only five countries – England, France, New Zealand, South Africa and Australia. No-one wants that,” said Moffett.

“The biggest disappointment of my time here is the refusal to change the northern hemisphere structure because we don’t even need radical change - anything at all would be better than what we have got.

“Professional rugby will not exist in Scotland, Ireland and Wales in five years unless things change.

“English and French clubs will continue to rape and pillage the world’s best players and in a few years we will discover they have no-one left to play. You look at the make-up of the teams in the Heineken Cup from France and England - how many local players do they have?

“The answer for us is central contracting. There is so much opposition and I simply don’t know why.

“It’s not something we’re trying to do to help the Welsh Rugby Union, it’s a matter of doing what’s best for the country with a small player base.

“Maybe we’ll see it introduced when the so-called benefactors get sick of losing money.”

Moffett issued a withering parting shot to both England and France for blocking his plans to restructure the northern hemisphere season so it follows a similar pattern to the SANZAR competitions.

Moffett predicted tough times ahead for rugby in both nations. He believes the self-interest of the powerful clubs will undermine the whole game.

“The two countries against restructuring the season are France and England, because their clubs are intent on doing what they think is right for them. They have no interest in the wider game at all because they think they can replicate soccer,” said Moffett.

“Soccer is a fundamentally flawed model. Those owners think they can become rich by following the soccer model. How many soccer clubs make money?

“England has got problems coming and France do too. You cannot have the players playing the number of games these guys do. The club owners think that more games equals more money.

“The most valuable tournament in the northern hemisphere is the Six Nations, which generates £45m a year over seven weeks. And that is before the gates and sponsorship of the individual unions. Less is more.

“The most valuable sports competition in the world is the NFL in American Football – they play 13 weeks.

“If you look at the southern hemisphere there is a natural progression to the season, with the Super 12 followed by the Tri-Nations.

“The northern hemisphere season is a mess. I have been banging on about that for a while and I gave up in the end because its not worth talking about because no-one wants to change.”

Moffett’s ideal set-up would be a pan-European league, divided into conferences and organised by European Rugby Cup, who currently run the Heineken Cup and Challenge Cup.

“I think the ERC should become the competition. We should divide the ERC into conferences and be playing in a European league. You would save millions of pounds because you have one organisational structure that is already in place.”

Moffett leaves Wales in a healthy state. Three years ago the national team was stagnating, the WRU’s debt stood at £75m is down to £45m and a £10m overdraft is now a £3m surplus.

The coffers were boosted this autumn by £10-15m as over 300,000 fans streamed through the gates to watch the Grand Slam champions in action against New Zealand, Fiji, South Africa and Australia.