ENGLAND will today announce a television deal which will earn them more than £87 million, and, probably, isolation in northern hemisphere rugby.

The deal with Sky is for live and exclusive coverage of all England's internationals at Twickenham. Terrestrial television, almost certainly the BBC, will get the rights to screen the whole match "as live" later in the day.

The problem is who will England play? The English RFU has been at odds with its partners in the Five Nations tournament for months. The organisation has been warned repeatedly that if England break that cartel and negotiate their own deal, Wales, Scotland and Ireland will go their own way. They would exclude England, replace them with fast emerging Italy and play their games home and away.

The belief was that England were courting the southern hemisphere sides, but late last week Twickenham begged for an emergency meeting with a Welsh representative when South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand gave them the cold shoulder, saying they were quite content with the competition they already had.

Edmund Van Esbeck adds:

England's decision was described by IRFU honorary treasurer and incoming president Bobby Deacy last night as "the point of no return for the Five Nations Championship as we have known it. The consequences of England's actions are obviously immense and absolutely tragic for a competition that we have had for so long," said Deacy.

When the IRFU committee met in Dublin on Friday, the union had not been informed by the English Rugby Union (RFU) that it was their intention to announce details of their deal with Sky television at Twickenham today.

"We got no notification of the impending announcement from Twickenham, but we had heard rumours that the RFU was going ahead with the announcement on Monday," said Deacy.

"The IRFU attitude to England's actions has already been clearly stated by the IRFU president Syd Millar and also by the statement issued a few weeks ago by the other members of the Five Nations Committee. The English decision to go ahead with their announcement has not changed that in any way.

"The position has been laid out very clearly. The television contract for the Five Nations Championship has, in accordance with accepted and long standing procedure, gone out to tender. The replies and offers are scheduled to be received the very near future. Obviously we greatly regret England's attitude and actions.

"We, in common with the other nations, had hoped that England would see the wisdom and justice in standing by the procedure laid down. It appears as if the appeals have fallen on deaf ears. Of course it is tragic to see what is happening and the consequent effects.

"It must be borne in mind that the current agreement for the Five Nations Championship still has a year to run. Obviously there is an obligation to honour that and it is IRFU policy to honour our agreements and obligations.

In an interview with this newspaper a few week ago Millar said: "Their (England's) exclusion from the Five Nations Championship is inevitable. If they sign the deal with Sky, that is the end of it."

Deacy reiterated those sentiments last night. On the future format of the Five Nations series whether Italy would be brought in and whether the series, without England, will be played on a home and away basis annually - he said: "Those are all matters that must be contemplated".

While the details of the deal will be announced today, there is a belief in England that, in fact, the contract with Sky was actually signed by RFU officials last week.

The secretary of the RFU Tony Hallet said last night: "If the other countries in the Five Nations Championship decided not to play England next season that would be breach of the existing television agreement and I do not think that will happen.

He is probably right, for the other nations' attitude to agreements and procedures is obviously very different to that in the RFU.