French clubs confirm cup boycott

Top French clubs have confirmed their boycott of next season's Heineken Cup and European Challenge Cup competitions.

Clubs chief Serge Blanco made the announcement to journalists at Paris Orly Airport Hotel, where the board of Ligue Nationale de Rugby have been meeting all day.

England's Guinness Premiership clubs are expected to follow suit after they announced earlier this week they would fully support any French withdrawal, effectively ending next season's tournaments as viable propositions.

Both the French and English clubs are furious about a shareholding issue in European Rugby Cup between Premier Rugby and the Rugby Football Union.

Premier Rugby say an agreement was reached in principle last October for the RFU to hand over some of their ERC shares to them as part of a new tournament accord.

The RFU have consistently denied any such agreement was in place.

English clubs believe the Heineken Cup would not be a worthwhile competition without the French, and confirmation of an English pull-out is expected shortly.

The news will be a hammer blow not only to ERC, who are likely to lose broadcasters and sponsors as a result of the French action, but also competing Celtic teams, who face a potential cash crisis as a result.

It had been hoped that French Rugby Federation president Bernard Lapasset could have swayed the clubs into a rethink, but that has not happened.

French and English clubs have won nine out of the 11 Heineken Cup finals between them. The only exceptions were Ulster (1999) and Munster (2006).