Cardiff's Wales and Lions half-backs Robert Howley and Neil Jenkins will be on their way out of the Arms Park next week to Wasps and Pontypridd respectively after days of transfer haggling approached resolution last night.

Wasps are believed to have agreed a £60,000 transfer fee with Cardiff for the 31-year-old scrum-half and Pontypridd have made a final offer for Jenkins, international rugby's record points scorer.

Both players have a year to run on their contracts with Cardiff but Howley wants a move after his request for a two-year extension was rejected and Jenkins, who is 31 on Monday, knows that a return to Pontypridd will guarantee him regular first-team rugby with Iestyn Harris and Nicky Robinson blocking his way at the Arms Park.

"I will be very disappointed if Neil does not sign for us, and he will be as well," said the Pontypridd coach Lynn Howells. "Our offer did not meet Cardiff's valuation, but I think we are close to tying up a deal."

The new Swansea coach John Connolly is hoping to sign the Harlequins flanker Tia Tamarua, who played for him when he was in charge of Queensland.

The Welsh Rugby Union has admitted that it was bringing in a financial expert to conduct a spending review after its major creditor, Barclays Bank, expressed concerns about the governing body's ability to service loans and an overdraft facility totalling £70m.

"We have to review our costs, improve our revenue streams and find ways to become even more efficient. To that end, the WRU general committee has agreed to bring in an additional financial resource," said the union's chairman Glanmor Griffiths. "This is not a knee-jerk reaction, but a move to improve the financial position of both the WRU and the Millennium Stadium."

Griffiths denied that he was about to stand down as the chairman of both the general committee and Millennium Stadium plc. However, he did tell members of his committee at a meeting on Thursday night that he had told some colleagues that he had been thinking of resigning because of family problems but that they had been resolved.

The new financial figure in the WRU will be appointed on a short-term basis from a list of names approved by Barclays. Griffiths admitted that all expenditure would be reviewed and confirmed that international players would have their appearance fees cut to bring the WRU into line with other unions.