Barwell attacks 'arrogant' RFU

'It doesn't give a damn for the clubs, the players, the supporters, the sponsors. It has shown there is a huge void in its management which we are going to fill by taking the reins.

'The last five years have been wasted. The professional game is fed up with the amateurs. On one side you have the takers and the amateurs, on the other the givers and the professionals.

'We are in the process of working something out to stand on our own, so we don't require subsidising from the RFU.'

Against a fractious background of clubs determined to go it alone despite the obvious fact that neither party can flourish without the other, the RFU announced yesterday that the 'long form agreement' of its part-nership with the clubs had been finalised at long last. The clubs thought it had been finalised last April.

RFU chief executive Francis Baron said: 'Now that the agreement has been finalised we wish to meet EFDR (the Premiership clubs) this week to iron out any final issues and sign the agreement. Once the agreement has been signed the loan funding to clubs can be drawn down.'

The clubs say they are 'bleeding to death' because of what they see as the Union reneging on promises to pay them £1.8million a year on monthly instalments of £150,000, a bad enough state of affairs for Bristol owner Malcolm Pearce to threaten withdrawal from Sunday's Premiership match at Saracens.

Pearce withdrew his threat yesterday under pressure from the rest of the Premiership to maintain a united front. 'We must act collectively,' said Saracens owner Nigel Wray. 'We are formulating a plan. We will run our own destinies and we are talking weeks rather than months.'

Leicester are to talk to Northampton's Matt Dawson about the knee-inthe-back on Tigers' wing Geordan Murphy and high tackle on Pat Howard before deciding whether to take the matter further.