Twickenham confirmed that a full, long-form agreement had been finalised, and that the document would go before the EFDR clubs today. “We wish to meet EFDR this week to iron out any final issues and sign the agreement,” said the union’s chief executive, Francis Baron.Few people in the club movement were performing cartwheels at Baron’s pronouncement, largely because the original agreement has mysteriously developed a number of amendments unacceptable to the Premiership brigade. The RFU’s problem is simple: it is unable to implement the original deal, because that would provoke a vote of no confidence in Baron and his management board from the anti-Premiership Reform Group – a grass-roots pressure group who appear to believe that Old Rubberduckyians should have a say in how Leicester or Bath run their business Rugby is in serious strife.. The Six (then the Five) Nations’ Championship last ended inconclusively in 1972. In that season the Welsh Rugby authorities refused to travel to Dublin because of the risk of violence by the IRA or other terrorist groups.

In this season the Irish authorities, acting in accordance with the instructions of the government of the Republic, have decreed that no national team from the British mainland should cross the Irish Sea until 30 days have passed since the eradication of foot-and-mouth disease from that mainland. The Six (then the Five) Nations’ Championship last ended inconclusively in 1972. In that season the Welsh Rugby authorities refused to travel to Dublin because of the risk of violence by the IRA or other terrorist groups. In this season the Irish authorities, acting in accordance with the instructions of the government of the Republic, have decreed that no national team from the British mainland should cross the Irish Sea until 30 days have passed since the eradication of foot-and-mouth disease from that mainland.
Whether the Dublin government has any jurisdiction over the use to which Ravenhill Park, Belfast, may be put is something I rather doubt. In olden times the ground was co-host for internationals with Lansdowne Road, Dublin, though a strict alternation was not observed. The last home international to be played in Belfast was in February 1954.It is unlikely that the Irish Rugby Union would defy the wishes of the Dublin government.

If it tried, and the Rugby Football Union then joined it in its defiance, agreeing to stage the postponed Ireland v England fixture at Ravenhill rather than at Lansdowne Road, the Westminster government would also become involved.Bertie Ahern, the Irish Prime Minister, might say that the rescheduled Belfast fixture was contrary to the spirit of the Anglo-Irish Agreement of 1985. Those of us who relish a spot of trouble, and believe that sporting authorities should not invariably do precisely as their national governments require, would enjoy the row. But it will not happen.My own feeling – it is more than a guess, less than a firm prediction – is that the whole international season will end unresolved. The Wales v Ireland game has been rescheduled for 29 April, while the weekends of 5-6 May and 12-13 May have been set aside for postponed games (Ireland v England and Scotland v Ireland are, at the moment, the fixtures left outstanding).Though I am no expert, I should have thought it unlikely that foot-and-mouth would be eradicated completely by 13 April. Accordingly it would make no difference if the Ireland v England fixture were to be played at Ravenhill. The Irish team would not come – would not be allowed to come – to the Millennium Stadium and Murrayfield to fulfil, respectively, their Welsh and Scottish fixtures.In the summer there is the Lions tour of Australia, in which no fewer than 37 players will be involved, to the inevitable impoverishment of the national sides. Then the new season begins, these days almost as early as the football season.There is one little ray of sunshine poking through the clouds.