Tierney admitted there were no guarantees this could not happen again to another region as she pointed out the Welsh model involves wealthy benefactors.

She believes the new Professional Rugby Agreement (PRA) currently being negotiated will help ensure there are more opportunities to safeguard the future of organisations.

In light of the WRU's takeover, Tierney's challenge now is persuading the Scarlets, Ospreys and Dragons to sign the PRA with the landscape having changed, although she insists the WRU will aim to make Cardiff an almost independent subsidiary.

"We are talking to the other three clubs regularly and they understand the reasons why we have done this and why rugby in Cardiff is so important," said Tierney.

"They have questions about what it means for them and funding but I am confident we will get the new PRA deal done.

"It is a better deal on every front than the current PRA and we must get it signed."

Tierney had said it was "unthinkable" to allow the demise of professional rugby in the Welsh capital. She was asked whether the WRU would have done this for the other regions.

"We would have taken each situation on a business case basis and looked at every one independently," said Tierney.

"I would not want to look into a crystal ball and say if it had been one of the other clubs, we would have made a different decision.

"We did take all three options for Cardiff to our board. Do nothing, try and find new funds quickly or do this. We had about 20 hours on this, so it's not something we said 'let's just do'."

The final decision also demonstrated the desire to maintain four Welsh professional sides.

"One of the the things that helped make the decision is if Cardiff were to go into liquidation and not exist, we would have been facing significant penalties from the United Rugby Championship (URC) for losing our slot and not providing four clubs," said Tierney.

"That would have cost us more than buying Cardiff."