Celtic rugby unions refuse to sanction their clubs joing English and French in ...

“We welcome the recent comments made by the International Rugby Board

chairman, who confirmed that a pan-European tournament remains the goal of

the IRB.

“The Welsh Rugby Union wishes to clarify that it will not sanction any of

its clubs or regions participating in future tournaments which do not have

the full approval of the IRB and the WRU.

“The WRU wants an agreement to be achieved and reiterates its

determination to negotiate a new format for the European Cup with all of the

stakeholders.

“The WRU’s focus is to work collaboratively with our colleagues across

Europe, encouraging all parties to conclude our negotiations as quickly as

possible.”

The WRU’s stance serves as a clear message to their four professional regions

– the Ospreys, Cardiff Blues, Scarlets and Newport Gwent Dragons.

And that was quickly followed by similar statements released by the Scottish

and Irish rugby unions.

“Scottish Rugby wishes to clarify that its clubs will not be participating in

future tournaments which do not have the full approval of the International

Rugby Board or the relevant national rugby unions,” the SRU said.

“Scottish Rugby and its clubs remain fully committed to the development of a

pan-European rugby competition and we welcome the recent comments made by

the IRB chairman, who confirmed that a pan-European tournament remains the

goal of the IRB. We are confident this can be achieved.

“Scottish Rugby remains committed to working with our colleagues across Europe

and encourages all parties to fully engage in meaningful negotiations. We

hope that negotiations can be concluded quickly.”

The IRFU’s viewpoint replicates that of both the Welsh and Scottish unions.

The French Rugby Federation, meanwhile, has already said they will not support

any new Anglo-French competition.

Premiership Rugby and LNR, though, plan to finalise structural detail of the

Rugby Champions Cup when it knows who will be involved.

Speaking earlier this week, Premiership Rugby chief executive Mark McCafferty

said: “Before we can release more information we need to know over the next

few weeks which other teams will be joining the competition.

“Once we know the final, or close to final, numbers then we’ll settle on the

competition formats.

“Various people have approached us about the possibility of joining and we’ve

indicated to them that we’ll keep their names confidential.

“We’ve heard that other people want to be involved in European competitions,

that’s why we’ve left the door open and expect it to be more than an

Anglo-French competition.

“We’re asking for the RFU’s (Rugby Football Union’s) support against the

background that there will be no ERC competition in which we’re taking part

at the end of the season. We need to put in place new competitions.”

(Edited by Ben Bloom)

Celtic rugby unions refuse to sanction their clubs joing English and French in ...