ENGLISH rugby union's millionaire club owners will meet representatives of the top Scottish clubs in Edinburgh tomorrow to promote a far reaching plan for a new British league competition that includes the Welsh and be known as the Super 16.

Sir John Hall of Newcastle, Chris Wright of Wasps, Nigel Wray of Saracens and Richmond's Ashley Levett are among the business magnates expected to set out a detailed blueprint for Britain's rugby future at the elite club level.

The Anglo Scottish summit will come just 48 hours after England's leading players formally backed the English Professional Rugby Union Clubs (EPRUC) in their dispute with the RFU, notwithstanding the offer of RFU contracts worth up to £70,000 a season to members of the national squad.

A meeting in London yesterday between the players and EPRUC officials gave renewed impetus to the club's warning that they intend to break away from the RFU on October 11th.

The clubs have already begun their own negotiations with major sponsors and TV companies with the aim of achieving fully independent status by the start of next season.

It is virtually certain that the top players will not sign RFU contracts, though that does not necessarily debar them from playing for England in this season's international.

The Super 16 will incorporate six clubs each from England and Wales and tour from Scotland, though there is a proposal initially to have seven English and three Scottish clubs. It is hoped to start the new competition next September. British clubs have also begun informal talks with their counterparts and South Africa with a view to staging a short term world club competition each summer.