Saracens encountered few problems as they launched their European Champions Cup campaign with an emphatic victory over French heavyweights Toulouse at Allianz Park.

He’s a remarkable man, is Serge Blanco, a one-off, someone who has become part of the fabric of French life in his 56 years, and who today is charged with helping transform the national rugby team into credible World Cup contenders.

Come Sunday the veins under Cedric Abellon’s war paint will be throbbing.

By Peter O’ Dwyer

Toulon’s eccentric owner Mourad Boudjellal has taken a swipe at English referee Wayne Barnes, accusing him of showing bias against his all-star team during Sunday’s Heineken Cupquarter-final.

Heineken Cup bosses hope shareholder power can force the release of overdue tournament appearance fees after a second board meeting in three weeks failed to break the impasse.

English rugby chief Ian Ritchie was embroiled in a last-ditch attempt to solve the European rugby crisis on Thursday as he met union bosses in Dublin.

A decision on English clubs playing in Europe next season is expected to be made at a meeting of Premiership Rugby’s shareholders in London today.

A decision on English clubs playing in Europe next season is expected to be made at a meeting of Premiership Rugby’s shareholders in London tomorrow.

THE end is in sight, even if we are not quite there yet.

Premiership Rugby’s major shareholders are set to meet this week following latest developments in a crisis that has gripped the European club game.

England’s clubs could yet be involved in a tournament run by European Rugby Cup next season if they secure the assurances that it will be replaced for 2015-16.

England’s clubs have edged back from the brink of exclusion from European competition next season following a dramatic day in a dispute destined to continue for another year.

England’s clubs have edged back from the brink of exclusion from European competition next season following a dramatic day in a dispute destined to continue for another year.

Breakingnews.ie Rugby Correspondent Daniel Pitcher on worries about the collapse of the Heineken Cup.

Progress has been made “on a number of issues” in the ongoing tussle surrounding European club competitions, independent mediators Graeme Mew and Stephen Drymer said on Thursday.

Summit talks to try and reach a new agreement on the future of the Heineken Cup were set to continue in Dublin today as stakeholders in the European competition digested the implications of the Welsh regions backing the proposed breakaway Rugby Champions Cup.

Wales’ four regional teams have pledged “full support” for the proposed Rugby Champions Cup mooted by England and France next season.

THE more I read the protestations of the Anglo-French protagonists from Premier Rugby Limited (PRL) and the Ligue Nationale de Rugby (LNR), the more my blood boils.

ERC chief, Derek McGrath says they are no closer to agreeing terms of a Heineken Cup campaign beyond this campaign with the Anglo-French clubs but is confident a deal can be hammered out.

The French Rugby Federation is on a collision course with clubs from the Aviva Premiership and Top 14 as the dispute over the future of the Heineken Cup continued to escalate.

Anglo-French efforts to form a European breakaway competition have stepped up with the confirmation that a new tournament open to Celtic and Italian teams will be established in time for next season.

European Rugby Cup has appointed an independent mediator in their attempts to thrash out a new tournament agreement for the Heineken Cup and Amlin Challenge Cup competitions.

European Rugby Cup chairman Jean-Pierre Lux has described the ramifications of a proposed Anglo-French tournament as “detrimental” to the world game.

The prospect of an agreement to save the Heineken Cup looks bleak after the two warring sides fired public broadsides at each other over their behaviour during the past four days.

The chief executive of the IRFU, Philip Browne, has blasted the sabre-rattling of English and French club rugby chiefs while the future of the Heineken Cup continues to be discussed, describing their contradictory actions as “deplorable”.

The future of the Heineken Cup, as it’s presently constituted, appears doomed after England’s Premiership clubs yesterday directed their representative body to take “immediate action” to put in place a new European competition for the 2014/15 season.

The chief executive of the ERC has admitted the dispute over the Heineken Cup, which is threatening the tournament’s future, is unlikely to be resolved by the time the domestic rugby season kicks off in September.

Italy captain Sergio Parisse will miss the rest of this season’s RBS 6 Nations Championship after being banned for insulting a referee.

For a full week they looked on, as their disputed dirty linen was aired in public, but the continent’s rugby powerbrokers kept their laundry in-house yesterday after taking the first, tentative steps towards a new accord for the European game’s club tournaments.

The Ligue Nationale de Rugby (LNR), the governing body for domestic rugby in France, has clarified that unless there is a “catastrophic failure in negotiations” it will not consider abandoning the Heineken Cup for a breakaway tournament.

After weeks of posturing over the future of the Heineken Cup, European Rugby stakeholders will all meet face to face for the first time in a Dublin hotel today to begin thrashing out a way forward for the continent’s premier club competition.

SEBASTIEN CHABAL was left out of France’s provisional World Cup squad for sporting rather than political reasons, national team boss Marc Lievremont declared.

Sebastien Chabal was left out of France’s provisional World Cup squad for sporting rather than political reasons, according to national team boss Marc Lievremont.

France back-row forward Sebastien Chabal has apologised for his critical comments about referees which have landed him a ban – but stopped short of retracting them.

ENGLAND’s RFU will submit a government-backed bid to stage the 2015 World Cup. Twickenham, Wembley, Old Trafford and Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium are set to be included as venues in the RFU’s blueprint.

Bourgoin have written to European rugby’s governing body requesting the date and venue of their European Challenge Cup final against Northampton be changed.

ENGLISH and French clubs will play in next season’s European Cup and Challenge Cup, tournament organisers ERC confirmed yesterday following a meeting at Twickenham between all stakeholders.

Serge Blanco has rejected the withering attack launched against him this week by International Rugby Board (IRB) chairman Dr Syd Millar, insisting his primary motive is not personal glory but safeguarding the future of the club game.

Welsh rugby chief Roger Lewis believes “the door remains open” for top English and French clubs to play in next season’s Heineken Cup.

ENGLISH clubs chief Mark McCafferty has questioned the need for any Rugby Football Union involvement in future top-flight European competitions.