Beaumont drums up support

Bill Beaumont will discover tonight whether his voice is still as influential as it was in his Grand Slam-winning days 21 years ago.

The former Lions captain has been at the end of a hotline, drumming up support for the Rugby Union as it bids to defeat the Reform Group.

This reactionary group wants a vote of no confidence in London tonight against the Management Board at Twickenham.

The result will determine the future of English professional rugby. The special general meeting, requisitioned by some 200 of the Union's 2,000 clubs, will vote on seven resolutions which, if carried, would cause the Premiership clubs to go their own way and emasculate the Union's bargaining power on television contracts.

The RFU's big guns have conducted a nationwide series of roadshows in support of their eight-year strategic plan. Beaumont, a Management Board member whose diplomacy got England back in the Six Nations two years ago, called the plan 'visionary, clear and practical'.

The Reform Group says it has no wish to turn back the clock. But chairman Martyn Thomas, in his 'State of the Union' address to clubs, berates the Union's leadership for 'a blatant disregard for the views of the membership which has left the vast majority of rugby clubs feeling left in the cold.'