THE prospect of Irish players with English clubs being released to play for the Irish provinces in the European Cup improved yesterday.

Last week London Irish announced that they would not be releasing any of their players but a meeting between the Irish manager, Pat Whelan, and the London Irish coach, Clive Woodward, in London on Saturday went a long way towards resolving the issue.

Whelan and the three provincial managers Ken Reid (Ulster), Colm Tucker (Munster) and Jim Glennon (Leinster), arc to meet London Irish officials Duncan Leopold and David Jackson in London tomorrow in an attempt to clear the way for the release of the players, certainly those who had already made commitments to the provinces before they signed contracts with London Irish.

Meanwhile, Saracens have agreed to release Paddy Johns to play for Ulster in their first and second European Cup games he will not be available for the third match because of a club League commitment. This means that Richard Wallace (Munster) and Paul Wallace (Leinster), both Saracens players, will surely be released to play for their provinces under the same terms as Johns. Whelan also had discussions with a Saracens official last week and they have now proved just as fruitful as his meeting with Woodward.

The English Professional Rugby Union Clubs (EPRUC) had a meeting yesterday and the question of players' release was raised. But Ulster will not have the services of Jonathan Bell (Northampton) at least in the initial stages of the European Cup. Bell will be out of action for least a fortnight after being injured on Saturday.

Northampton hooker Allan Clarke was also injured on Saturday and will miss his club's match next Saturday. Ulster retain hope that despite the message conveyed to Ulster last week that Bell and Clarke would not be released, that Clarke will be available as the English clubs have a change of heart on the European issue. The first series of matches in the European Cup and Conference competitions take place on Saturday week when all four Irish provinces will be in action.

. The long running dispute between the Welsh Rugby Union and its 12 First Division clubs will finally come to a head this week. The clubs, who have been demanding the independence to run their own competitions, arc meeting on Friday when they expect to hear details of a television and sponsorship package which would fund a breakaway.

The Union called a special general committee meeting last night to draw up a plan of campaign should the clubs decide to recommend a state of independence to their members.

The WRU's secretary Richard Jasinski wrote to the first division clubs earlier this month asking to meet them individually. Though he had a reply from their association, First Division Ltd, saying he had to deal with them collectively, he has had some invitations.

Jasinski said he was disappointed that the Anglo Welsh Cup has failed to take off. He has accused the Welsh clubs of using it as a political football, demanding the competition only to field weakened teams thereby scaring off sponsors and television.

"We arranged a meeting with the Rugby Football Union and the Welsh and English first division clubs earlier this month to put a structure to the tournament and get money for our sides from television," he said. "We had a £500,000 offer on the table but the clubs failed to turn up."

"It seems to me that an attempt is being made to destabilise the running of the game by the unions. We are accused of not doing this or that but when we put something together the clubs undermine us.

The Anglo Welsh Cup continues tonight when the English champions Bath visit Llanelli but both teams will field weakened sides. Bath have included only four of the side which defeated West Hartlepool on Saturday.