England unveil ambitious plan

England yesterday revealed the prime targets in their eight- year plan for global domination: a battery of four Grand Slams and victory in the 2007 World Cup.

As evidence that the RFU is nothing if not ambitious, Clive Woodward and his potent array of coaches will also be expected to produce at least two wins annually against the three Southern Hemisphere giants as well as another couple of Six Nations titles, starting with the current campaign.

The mission statement from ground control at Twickenham, broadcast at a time when the clubs are threatening to take themselves out of the RFU's orbit and the play-ers with them, leaves no doubt as to their major objective: 'To be world leaders through excellence in every aspect of the elite game.'

The more cynical observers of the endless squabbling between the governing body and its Premier-ship clubs will already have acknowledged the RFU's pre-eminence as world leaders in one of the more depressing aspects of the elite game.

In normal circumstances, their eight-year plan would have been acclaimed as a masterpiece of empire-building but the circumstances yesterday could hardly have been more abnormal.

The latest and potentially most damaging stand-off made the timing unfortunate, the Union hierarchy spelling out exactly how it intends building on England's thrilling exploits to date by investing £50million over eight years in a 'world class performance plan' and three times as much in the amateur and grass-roots game over the same period. Nothing can be achieved without their most valuable assets, the players and, according to the hawks among an increasingly hawkish bunch of disaffected club owners, when push comes to shove those self- same players will side with their full-time employers, the clubs.

Neither party, of course, can do without the other and if one man can somehow reunite a seriously divided game by repairing the shattered peace plan, he emerged yesterday in the shape of RFU chairman Brian Baister.

Struggling at times to contain his anger during an impassioned plea, Baister offered the clubs an immediate solution by signing the 'Long Term agreement,' finalised, it would appear, after long-term negotiations. In an attempt to remove one