Twickenham's pounds 10m peace offering

Fresh hopes of a tentative truce between the Rugby Football Union and its insurrectionary band of professional clubs emerged yesterday as the power brokers of Twickenham put their hands far deeper into their pockets than ever and pulled out a sweetener worth pounds 10m. They also offered the clubs a role in the decision-making process, both immediately and in the future.

It now remains to be seen whether Epruc, the hard-bargaining pressure group representing the 24 clubs in the top two divisions of the Courage League, take the bait when it holds what could well be the most crucial meeting in its brief but turbulent history in Northampton today. The RFU's latest peace offer carries a deadline of tomorrow, but officials from the governing body will be at today's meeting and are prepared to meet club delegates.

The new money has been earmarked for 1998 and is over and above the pounds 8m due to be paid this year and the pounds 10m set aside for 1997. Such substantial sums would ease the fears of some clubs in League One and many in League Two, who are under serious financial pressure and are desperate for some sort of settlement to the power struggle that has engulfed the domestic game for almost a year.

The RFU is also tempting the clubs with two seats on the 18-man executive committee, which is chaired by the controversial Twickenham hardliner Cliff Brittle. If a new 12-man management board is set up, as has been widely suggested, the clubs will be given one seat under the proposed agreement.

News of the latest attempt at a solution broke just 24 hours after Epruc insiders held out an olive branch to the governing body by hinting that they would drop their opposition to the forthcoming programme of divisional matches against three southern hemisphere touring sides - Queensland, the Junior Springboks and Argentina. "Despite our misgivings about the concept of divisional rugby in England, we are prepared to support the arranged fixtures if it enables an overall agreement to be concluded," Epruc's chief executive, Kim Deshayes, said.

Weakened by the decision of Second Division Nottingham to approve the new offer in advance of today's meeting and vulnerable to the RFU's willingness to make early hardship payments to the least well off among their members, Epruc must now decide what further benefit they might squeeze from a further round of brinkmanship.

One of the most influential figures in European rugby yesterday announced a new bridge-building exercise between clubs from the major northern hemisphere countries and their governing bodies in an effort to halt the game's downward slide into fixture anarchy. Roger Pickering, chief executive of the Five Nations Committee, expects a cross-border schedule to be agreed later this month.

Pickering, also tournament director of the Heineken European Cup, was speaking as officials from Cardiff and Bath voiced concerns over the fixture congestion that has already seen four important league games cancelled in England because of Test call-ups from Ireland and Scotland - a situation almost certain to be repeated three times in the next 10 weeks. John Hall, Bath team manager, fears "massive disruption" at club level as the international season gets going.

While Pickering accepted the die had been cast for this season - "it will be very difficult to change things at this stage" - he insisted a new fixture structure would be in place for the 1997-98 campaign. "The main thing is to create a situation where this sort of fixture trouble is virtually impossible," he said.