Twickenham was last night ordered to cancel a press conference scheduled for next week when details of its bid to stage the 2007 World Cup were due to have been revealed.
The edict came from the International Rugby Board and the Rugby Football Union was warned that, if it went public with its bid before the board of Rugby World Cup Ltd had seen the proposals, it would jeopardise its chances of hosting the event.
The deadline for submitting bids is today, with only England and France so far declaring their intentions. The French had planned to make their plans public today in a pre-emptive strike after the RFU announced its press conference a month ago but they too have been sworn to silence.
The winner in what promises to be a close battle will be announced by the board on November 14. Both England and France are expected to make stand-alone bids. On the other two occasions when the World Cup has been held in Europe, in 1991 and 1999, the pool matches and quarter- finals were shared by the four home unions and France.
The RFU has rescheduled its press conference for October 21, after its presentation to the World Cup organisers. A statement issued by the union last night concealed the anger and indignity felt at Twickenham at what was seen as a heavy-handed intervention by the board. The RFU had come to the IRB's rescue earlier this month when it agreed to stage the inaugural match between the hemispheres on November 30, a fixture originally intended for Cardiff's Millennium stadium.
The board insists the game will go ahead despite the insistence by players' associations in England, France, New Zealand, South Africa and Australia that their members want nothing to do with it.
The Newcastle fly-half Jonny Wilkinson is one England player who will be coveted by the selectors of the northern hemisphere side and he will on Sunday make his first club appearance alongside his brother Mark who has been chosen in the centre to face Leeds at Kingston Park.
Newcastle conceded 52 points to Leicester last week and a day later Saracens leaked 51 at Wasps, prompting their owner Nigel Wray to reflect on the wisdom of his continuing to invest in the Watford-based club.
"The performance was lamentable," said Wray, who has ploughed £12m into Saracens over the last six years. "You cannot go on financing failure and our target has to be a top-four finish in what will be a defining season for us. The English game remains a shambles with money and effort still wasted."
Harlequins face Sale at Heywood Road tonight without their hooker Keith Wood who yesterday withdrew from the Ireland side to face Georgia in the World Cup qualifier at Lansdowne Road tomorrow because of a neck injury. He is replaced by Shane Byrne.
