The International Rugby Board last night ruled out taking action against Newcastle after the Falcons delayed releasing two of their Scotland players for a national training session this week following a row over insurance compensation.
The Scottish Rugby Union complained to the IRB after the Newcastle locks Stuart Grimes and Craig Hamilton turned up so late to a pre-assembly meeting "it was not worth their while attending".
The Falcons said yesterday, after the SRU had threatened to invoke a sanction which would have seen the players denied to their club for 10 days, that the action was a one-off protest against the lack of insurance payment from the SRU following the long-term knee injury to the Newcastle flanker Andrew Mower sustained while on international duty.
"We have been chasing the SRU for some while now and, despite all our efforts compensation for Andrew [who is unlikely to play before February], it has not been forthcoming," said a Newcastle spokesman.
"We wanted to make a point to show our frustration. It will not be repeated." The SRU is disputing Newcastle's claims over Mower, who sustained ligament damage in a training session before the World Cup, and has passed the matter on to its lawyers.
An IRB spokesman said: "We have noted the SRU's dissatisfaction and we are aware of the dispute but we will only get involved if a further complaint is made."
The SRU's Celtic League partners, the Welsh Rugby Union, yesterday announced operating profits of £82,128 a year after posting a loss of nearly £4m. The gains were wiped out by the deficit of more than £586,000 recorded by Millennium Stadium plc.
Cost-cutting and increased revenue helped the WRU move into the black, though it has long-termdebts of some £70m which it is currently trying to restructure with its chief creditors, Barclays Bank and BT.
"It has been a painful few years for Welsh rugby as it has been forced to adapt and change in an attempt to climb out of the financial mire," said the WRU chief executive David Moffett.
"I have always been an advocate of no pain, no gain but an organisation can only endure the amount of pain we have suffered for so long.
"The next year is going to be vital for us. We have made progress on the restructuring of our debt and the deal we are fashioning will put the WRU Group on a firm financial footing, but we will not be returning to the heady days of spend, spend, spend.
"Now is the time to concentrate on the game itself - the community game and the professional game - because without the former we wouldn't have the latter."
The South African Rugby Football Union is ready to offer the former Springboks coach Nick Mallett an advisory role amid reports that his availability for Sir Clive Woodward's job with England has been canvassed.
