Agreement makes future of Heineken Cup safe, for now

The future of the Heineken Cup appears to have been secured after the French Top-14 clubs agreed to remain committed to the competition.

At a meeting today, representatives from the top French clubs agreed to the demands of the French Rugby Federation to remain part of the ERC-run tournament for next season.

The Top-14 owners had previously threatened to form a breakaway competition with the English Premiership clubs.

A statement from today's meeting says that the French clubs have now set themselves a deadline of next February to try and convince the English teams to also perform a u-turn on their threat to withdraw from the Heineken Cup.