Decision day on Europe for isolated English Premiership clubs

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.

Owners and chief executives from all 12 Aviva Premiership clubs – as well as delegates from shareholders Leeds and Bristol – will convene for what has been described as “effectively an emergency meeting” following Ligue Nationale de Rugby’s (LNR) announcement last Thursday that French clubs would be pulling out of a proposed Rugby Champions Cup.

After consulting its clubs at the weekend, Premiership Rugby called a 10am meeting for today where the European issue will be top of the bill.

Premiership Rugby has consistently said its clubs will not participate in ERC-run tournaments, with a two-year notice period to quit ERC being completed next June.

Not playing in Europe next term is now a serious possibility with Premiership Rugby’s chief executive Mark McCafferty, who will attend today’s meeting, admitting that was “the most likely outcome”.

It’s believed a decision either way is likely to be made today.

“This is a critical meeting precipitated by the events of the past week,” a club source said yesterday.

“I can’t remember a more important meeting for the clubs in the past decade. It is effectively an emergency meeting and after last week’s events the size and critical nature of the discussions to take place have been underlined by how quickly it was agreed that all clubs needed to meet.

“I expect that a plan will be made at some point on Thursday. The people that will be in that room are the type of people who will want to move this forward and have a plan in place.”

The proposed Rugby Champions Cup – formulated by Premiership Rugby and LNR — was undermined last Thursday when the presidents of the French clubs agreed at a meeting at Orly Airport near Paris to instead commit to the ERC-run format announced by the unions a fortnight ago.

That effectively isolated the English clubs, although beyond 2014-15 LNR said it was seeking the introduction of an alternative competition overseen by a new body that will maximise the commercial interests of its clubs.

The LNR’s insistence that English clubs should be involved in such a tournament will likely be discussed at today’s London meeting. McCafferty suggested last week that he would be willing to listen to the French proposal.