Scotland's negotiators returned from yesterday's talks on the future of rugby's Heineken Cup claiming to remain hopeful that the tournament can be saved in spite of English and French threats of a breakaway.
The gathering in Dublin, which was attended by representatives from the governing bodies of all six nations that contest European rugby's biggest tournament as well as club officials from England, France and Wales, ended without any sign that the impasse over the competition's future is any closer to being breached.
However, the Scottish Rugby Union made positive noises about the prospects of resolution before the current agreement on the tournament structure ends next summer.
"Following today's [ERC] board meeting, discussions remain on-going concerning the future structure of European Cup competitions," said a spokesperson. "Scottish Rugby will continue to support these discussions positively with a view to achieving a resolution."
English clubs upped the ante again earlier on Tuesday by pre-empting yesterday's meeting in stating that they were going to set up a new competition with the French to which teams from the other countries would be invited. It seemed a strange stance as their statement was issued on the eve of the first scheduled discussions of the season and, in coded terms, a spokesman for European Rugby Cup Ltd (ERC) said as much yesterday when outlining how talks had gone.
"Surprise was expressed at the timing and content of yesterday's media announcements by the Ligue Nationale de Rugby [LNR] and Premiership Rugby and representatives of both bodies were invited to explain their positions," he said. "It was pointed out that there was a range of proposals made by stakeholders, none of which was acceptable to all parties, and it was agreed that the negotiations towards a definitive solution needed to begin again in earnest."
Wiser counsel appears to have prevailed yesterday with a commitment to further talks under the auspices of ERC.
"Despite recent reports, all parties involved in the formulation of a new ERC Accord, including the LNR and Premiership Rugby, have reaffirmed their commitment to the process.
A meeting focused solely on the negotiations will be convened by ERC as soon as practicable," said their spokesman.
"The Board reiterated that European club competitions must be organised by ERC and that any purported cross-border club tournaments needed the approval both of the IRB, and of the relevant Unions who are shareholders of ERC," he said.
The growing suspicion that the competition could become collateral damage as a result of a power grab by English club owners, who want to take control of their domestic game as has happened in football with the Premier League's domination of the Football Association, seemed confirmed in comments attributed to Nigel Wray, the owner of Saracens, by the Press Association.
"It is a Union competition, set up by the Unions, fair enough, but it is the clubs taking part in it and it's hugely important to the clubs. We want it to be a club-controlled competition," he said. "Under the current structure, the two nations - France and England - who provide the vast majority of the revenue are permanently outvoted by the four other nations. In that system, you have to leave if you want to change something and that is what hopefully we are doing. We are setting up our own competition which one hopes the other nations will join. We hope it will have better revenue and will be better run than it is at the moment. Do we want the rest of the nations in it? Of course we do. It has to be a competition that more accurately reflects the revenue generated by the various nations."
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