A total of £7.5m (€10.8m) is set to be shared between the five new professional teams – Cardiff, Llanelli and combined Newport/Ebbw Vale, Bridgend/Pontypridd and Neath/Swansea sides – next season.

The clubs initially wanted £8m (€11.6m), which caused the latest impasse in a seemingly endless dispute.

But today’s meeting finally thrashed out an amicable conclusion, and a plan agreed by the Premier clubs and WRU will now be represented to European Rugby Cup chiefs tomorrow.

The five sides are due to represent Wales in next season’s Heineken Cup and Parker Pen Challenge Cup competitions, which ERC oversee, plus the Celtic League.

A five-team regional structure had already been agreed for next term, but not an acceptable level of funding.

Had today’s decision not been reached it appeared as though Wales would remain with nine clubs next season – a potentially destructive situation given that only £4.62m (€6.68m) was to be made available between them, and some clubs are already experiencing cash problems.

Swansea are in temporary administration, and there were fears that top players would have moved away from Wales to safeguard their futures had the situation not been resolved.

The five regions will be underpinned by a 16-team semi-professional league to be funded to the tune of £800,000 (€1.15m) by the WRU.

Following today’s meeting Moffett confirmed: “We have reached a unanimous agreement with the clubs in respect of the financial issues and we hope now we can move forward.

“There are lots of things to sort out. We have to dot the i’s and cross the t’s, so I am not going to put a time frame in place.”

Derrick King, chairman of the Association of Premier Division Clubs, said: “We are delighted – it is a huge relief.

“We now have to go away and talk to our players and our partners and pull together to ensure this is a huge success.”