After meeting with Scarlets managing director Jon Daniels at the weekend - as the Scarlets began their United Rugby Championship season with a home defeat to Munster - Griffith described the Llanelli-based club as a cornerstone of Welsh rugby.
Adding to the growing pressure on the WRU to re-think proposals to cut the number of professional regions from four to two, the MP demanded that the Scarlets are protected.
“It is clear that the Scarlets, based at its excellent rugby and community stadium here at Parc y Scarlets in the heart of Llanelli, offers huge opportunities and the key to unlock the rebirth of Welsh rugby moving forward and support its future success,” she said.
“The WRU and all those involved in making decisions about the future of the professional game in Wales really need to understand just how good Parc y Scarlets is and the fantastic facilities it provides for the progression of elite rugby, the rugby pathway and our community.
“Scarlets has a unique heritage, a strong brand and huge promise and with rugby at its heart can and will support the future of Welsh rugby.
“It will help bring success to West Wales as well as feeding the national game, as it has done consistently in the past.
“Parc y Scarlets is one of the best rugby facilities in Wales – it’s home to a club packed with talent, expertise and is a flag-bearer for Llanelli and our region.
“If the WRU want a better game nationally, Scarlets and Parc y Scarlets are ready and waiting to deliver what’s needed for the game in Wales.”
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The strength of feeling against the Union’s two-team plan is now a broad coalition of current players, former players, fans, officials, as well as community and political figures across Wales.
Hours before kick-off at Parc y Scarlets last weekend, hundreds of Scarlets supporters marched from Llanelli town centre to the stadium to oppose the WRU’s restructuring plan.
Tomos Davies, one of the organisers, said the demonstration was about sending a clear message.
“It’s frightfully important for the fans that they have a team to follow,” he said.
“It’s the sense of identity, the sense of belonging.”
He warned that losing the Scarlets would be “a disaster” for supporters and the wider community, likening it to “losing a member of the family”.
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While acknowledging that reform is needed in Welsh rugby, Davies argued that the WRU’s preferred model was not the answer.
“I think [fans] have been left out of the consultation and raw data only tells you so much.”
The Scarlets are not the only region to express concern.
The Ospreys have suggested they could lose star man Jac Morgan if their existence is threatened, while Cardiff have gone into campaign without a permanent head coach after Wales appointed Matt Sherratt as an assistant coach to Steve Tandy.
The Dragons, meanwhile, have flatly rejected the WRU’s proposals, saying “Welsh rugby deserves better.”
The governing body has said around 7,000 people responded to its consultation.
A final decision on the restructure is expected in October.
Other representatives in West Wales echoed Griffith’s position.
Carmarthen MP Ann Davies highlighted the Scarlets’ role in producing international talent.
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She said: “The Scarlets will continue to develop top-class international players and coaches, and that’s crucial in any review of the professional game.
“The Scarlets have produced about 34% of all Wales-capped players in the last ten years – which tells its own story about how good the pathway is.”
Cefin Campbell, MS for Mid and West Wales, added: “Scarlets is an iconic club known all over the world and has produced some of the best players Wales and British and Irish Lions for decades.
“It is impossible to think about rugby in Wales without the Scarlets at its heart.
“To hear, see and feel the passion and sentiment on Saturday at the first match of the season, I think it showed the rugby world what this club means to so many people in West Wales and the inspiration it brings to young people and players and its ability to connect rugby with community.”
