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.

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.

Two days of talks ended yesterday in Dublin with the ERC and its six member unions moving halfway towards the rebellious English and French clubs and their demands for a radically altered European club structure.

What looks destined to be the 19th and final Heineken Cup will be launched at Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium this morning.

Ireland, Wales, and Scotland have all made clear statements that they will not take part in the new European rugby competition planned by English and French clubs.

Premiership Rugby and its French counterparts have been accused of showing a lack of respect during an increasingly bitter row over the Heineken Cup’s future.

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.

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Ireland’s provinces have been told they would be welcomed with open arms if they wanted to join European rugby’s proposed breakaway competition, as English clubs insisted they would not back down in the battle over the future of the Heineken Cup.

Premiership Rugby chief executive Mark McCafferty will meet with the English clubs today and propose a new approach to the discussions over the future of the Heineken Cup.

By Ian Cusack

Irish provinces have been warned they could lose their automatic Heineken Cup qualification spots as the row over the future of the competition rumbles on.

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.

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.

France’s Top 14 clubs are demanding a swift resolution to the schism that threatens the future of European rugby.

English and French clubs should learn from Ireland’s Heineken Cup success and not use it as a pretext for opting out of the competition, according to Munster team manager, Niall O’Donovan.

ERC are “dismayed and frustrated” at the threat issued by English and French clubs that they will quit European competition unless structural changes are made.

Top clubs in England and France have served notice of their intention to quit the Heineken Cup and organise a rival competition as they believe the current format is weighted too heavily in favour of the Celtic nations.

The pool draw has today been made for the 2012/13 Henieken Cup.

International Rugby Board chief executive Mike Miller is confident the low attendances at last weekend’s autumn internationals were not due to an over-exposure of Test rugby.

England’s World Cup-winning captain Martin Johnson is set for his first official role since retiring after being elected to the newly-formed Professional Game Board (PGB).

The European Rugby Cup Ltd directors and shareholders begin a series of meetings in Dublin today which could prove vital to the immediate future of the Heineken Cup.

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

The Rugby Football Union will sue Premier Rugby if the English clubs pull out of next season’s Heineken Cup.

HEINEKEN Cup chiefs insist that the competition will continue to prosper and have dismissed claims that French clubs threatened to pull out of next year’s competition.

CLIVE WOODWARD has claimed if England are to have any hope of retaining the World Cup then they need to develop elite athletes.

ENGLISH rugby is set for a return to the courtroom and another expensive legal wrangle after Premier Rugby threw England’s autumn international against New Zealand into doubt.

Former chief executive of Avis Europe PLC, Mark McCafferty could be in line for a compensation payment under the terms of his contract.

Car rental group Avis Europe today warned it saw no strong near-term recovery in corporate business despite seeing trading recover from the impact of the Iraq war.

Avis Europe tightened its grip on the continental car hire market today by acquiring a chunk of rival Budget’s global operations.