WEMBLEY yesterday emerged as the favourite to stage Wales Five Nations Championship matches next season.

The home of English soccer is favoured by Welsh rugby chiefs despite weekend talks between Rugby Football Union (RFU) officials and the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) about sharing Twickenham.

Wales must find a home while work continues on their Millennium Stadium, scheduled to be finished by May, 1999. It will host the rugby World Cup final four months later.

"We have looked at a number of possible sites, including Old Trafford and Villa Park, but the chosen venue is likely to be Wembley," said WRU treasurer and Millennium Stadium plc chairman Glanmor Griffiths.

"It is so easy to get to London from Wales and we have to take into account the interests of our supporters.

"We've considered Twickenham but we wouldn't be able to play one of our Five Nations fixtures there next season because it clashes with an England date.

"Terry Cobner, our director of coaching, and coach Kevin Bowring, have expressed a preference to play international matches at one stadium next season so that the players can acclimatise themselves properly and I think that will happen.

Wales have home games against Scotland and France in the Five Nations competition next year. They also have a November international against New Zealand.

They must also find a venue for the SWALEC cup final, the Welsh club knockout competition which regularly attracts a four figure crowd.

If work is finished on time, the Millennium Stadium will be ready to stage its first fixture of Wales versus Western Samoa with a reduced 35,000 capacity in January, 1999.

By May, a 73,000 seater, three tier concrete bowl should be in place, complete with a state of the art retractable roof.

Wembley hosted its last rugby union test in 1992, when, because of Twickenham building work, England played Canada, the hosts winning 26-13.

Any ground sharing arrangement struck with Twickenham would not be straightforward. Stringent planning conditions mean that locals have a say in the number of matches held there each season. This was a factor behind this year's Heineken European Cup final between Leicester and Brive being played at Cardiff Arms Park.

"We defend our right to play rugby union at Twickenham," said an RFU spokesman. "Everything is pure speculation at this stage, because there would be a number of issues to be discussed with the local community."