Andrew kicks Taskforce into touch

'The RFU is not capable, because of its constitution, of running a professional sport because, ultimately, if there is any problem with anything the rest of the clubs in the RFU can call a special general meeting and overturn any decision which either the Management Board or the Council makes.

'It's something which the professional clubs cannot continue to cope with. We've had this for five years now. I thought we had come very close to a solution but I find that the rest of the game is not able to accept that solution.

'The RFU has, in the past, been accused of being too slow and bureaucratic to run the professional end of the game. I was promised this would change through the Club England Committee. It is now 14 months since that committee was formed.

'The plan for the future of the international and club game was approved by the RFU council on April 7 after six months of consultation. It is nearly seven months since then and still there is no agreement.

'The Premiership clubs have agreed to the Club England Plan being implemented but I believe the RFU has reneged on the issue of promotion and relegation.

'The original plan called for a five-year moratorium on promotion and relegation, which was reduced to two years by the RFU council, after which there would be a play-off between the winner of the Second Division and the bottom team in the Premiership. EFDR (English First Division Rugby) has subsequently improved the position by offering play-offs from the end of this season.'

Under the Andrew Plan, the RFU this season agreed to pay the 12 Premiership clubs £1.8million per club, per season - an increase of £600,000. The first monthly installments of £150,000 were due in July but the clubs are still waiting, with the RFU blaming the promotion-relegation saga for the delay.

'It is totally unreasonable for professional businesses to wait nearly seven months for the implementation of an already agreed and approved plan,' said Andrew. 'The failure to implement it is causing extreme financial difficulties for the professional clubs.

'The leading players in the country and, therefore, the England national team are relying on the goodwill of the club owners to fund the professional game.'

His decision is another embarrassment for Twickenham's hierarchy and their continuing failure to resolve the feuding within their own ranks over a row which has brought the sport into recurring disrepute since it went professional. The former England fly half had worked tirelessly alongside Club England chairman Fran Cotton to produce a formula aimed at averting a looming crisis over threats of a mass breakaway of English Premiership clubs to join a British League proposed by Gloucester chairman Tom Walkinshaw.

In urging the Premiership clubs to 'take their destiny into their own hands', Andrew is not advising them to breakaway but to implement his plan, despite the RFU's indecision.

Walkinshaw, the Formula One motor racing owner, will almost certainly give formal notice when he outlines the Premiership clubs' position in London today.

Cotton, the Club England chairman who appointed Andrew to head the Taskforce, expressed his regret at Andrew's resignation.

'Rob put a great deal of his time and thoughts into the Andrew Plan and we are very grateful for the invaluable contribution he made,' Cotton said. 'However, while we share Rob's disappointment that, to date, it has not been implemented, we remain determined to reach an agreement based on the Andrew paper, thereby vindicating the energy Rob committed to it.'