WRU seeks home help

Rebuffed in one bid for Millennium funds to rebuild Cardiff Arms Park ready for the 1999 World Cup, the Welsh Rugby Union yesterday unveiled an alternative which would also keep the ground as its home but would not entail moving the Cardiff club to the city's docklands, writes Steve Bale.

WRU officers have been in Blackpool lobbying the Conservative party conference this week and will meet the Millennium Commission within a fortnight or so to restate their case for pounds 50m towards a pounds 100m project to provide a 75,000 all-seater stadium.

The union would still prefer its original plans to be accepted by the commission. But failing that, the new scheme would involve buying surrounding properties including the Empire Pool (built for the 1958 Commonwealth Games), turning the pitch through 90 degrees and moving it 40 yards to the south leaving the adjacent club ground intact.