Talks in Dublin will continue this morning on the future of the Heineken Cup. Some progress is believed to have been made yesterday on areas such as a revised structure of a European club tournament for first and second tier clubs.
None of the English Premier League, French National League or Welsh Provinces sent representatives to the meeting with independent mediator Graeme Mew though the three nations were represented through their national unions.
The Welsh Union revealed yesterday that it had offered to draw down money commited to the regions over five years in order to place key players like Sam Warburton on central contracts and prevent their leaving for richer pickings in England, France or further afield.
Once the future of the European structure was resolve the players could go back to existing contracts with their Regions though no detail was given over whether the central contracts were likely to be close to what richer clubs might offer.
The proposal was made to the regions 24 hours before they announced they would side with the new Rugby Champions Cup though there was no formal rejection of the terms offered.
With news yesterday from IRUPA that a professional rugby career lasts only seven years, some additional focus has been placed on the players though any response is likely to be tied to the financial rather than the pure rugby terms of a career. It might be noble but would be harsh to suggest that love of the game should be a higher priority.
Bill Beaumont and Rob Andrew are among the English Rugby Union delegation attending the talks in Dublin but even if an agreement is reached it will still have to go back to the respective clubs that would be playing in whichever structure emerges and no negotiation can be meaningfully concluded without addressing the competing TV bids from BT Sport and Sky Sports.
That is likely to be the single element that proves intractable and there can be only one winner. So long as that is the sport, the fans and the long term viability of professional rugby, the acrimony of recent months will fade.
There will be announcements today, albeit no final decision. That may yet take some time.
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