Cornish Pirates boss Ian Davies wants Welsh 'A' teams in B&I Cup

Davies says he is happy that Welsh sides in the British & Irish Cup are more competitive

Cornish Pirates boss Ian Davies says it is time Wales admitted the 'A' teams of their Pro12 sides into the British & Irish Cup.

The Pirates host Cross Keys on Sunday, with 10 of the Welsh club's side being members of Newport Gwent Dragons.

Pontypridd, Carmarthen Quins, Aberavon and Cross Keys are in the tournament.

"The sooner the WRU make the decision to announce it as Dragons' 'A' team, Blues 'A' team, Scarlets 'A' team and Ospreys 'A' team, the better," he said.

"Plymouth found this when they went to Carmarthen a fortnight ago, there were 13 guys who'd never played for Carmarthen.

"It's not Cross Keys we're playing," he told BBC Radio Cornwall.

"They've got guys like Jason Tovey, Rhys Jones who we know very well from his time down here and is now a star on the Welsh sevens circuit, Luc Jones at nine and these guys are serious players."

The four Irish provinces in the tournament already describe their teams as the 'A' sides are Munster, Leinster, Connacht and Ulster, while Scottish Rugby decided to withdraw their clubs from the tournament in June over concerns over its structure.

But Davies thinks the addition of players from the main Welsh provincial clubs is a good thing for the tournament.

"The Irish provinces are strong. We've played against British Lions when we played Munster in Peter Stringer and I think it is good for the competition.

"We had the ridiculous situation two years ago where the whole of the Welsh Premiership was in the British & Irish Cup - and even the Welsh clubs admitted they didn't understand why, because they were nowhere near strong enough to compete with the sides in the RFU Championship.

"The Scottish clubs were slightly stronger last year when they realised they couldn't compete.

"When Ayr came to us they had seven Glasgow players, two of which are now in the Scotland squad."