The England rugby union coach Clive Woodward was handed a humiliating snub by the 12 Premiership clubs yesterday when they boycotted a meeting on the vexed subject of player release.
The clubs' directors were due at Twickenham to hear Woodward outline his policy for the treatment of leading players in the run-up to next year's World Cup, covering the number of matches played and how often they trained with England.
The clubs decided not to turn up because, they said, they had organised the meeting and it had been hijacked by Woodward, who had invited along England players and their agents.
One director of rugby who did not wish to be named said last night: "We invited Clive to a meeting to discuss the future, not the other way round. We were going to have a discussion about the programme needed for international players but instead it turned into Clive making a presentation not only to the rugby directors but to players and agents and the world and his wife." Woodward wants to relax the rule which restricts players to no more than 32 matches in a calendar year.
·: Wales's prospects for their two-Test tour to South Africa which starts next week looked promising at half-time last night when they led the Barbarians 25-0 in Cardiff, but the wheels came off after the break as the touring side scored 40 unanswered points.
