The saga which produced an impasse between the Canadian Rugby Union and the international players over the sacking of coach Dave Clark has received one more airing, this time in Canadian RFU president Barry Giffen's end-of-year report. As a result of the dispute Canada will not be travelling to Ireland next month to fulfil their international fixtures.

The report outlines the real reason for Clark's contract-termination. In explaining the reasoning behind the popular Australian's sacking Giffen indicated that while a volunteer organization can withstand individuals charting their own course, in Clark's case it was a business matter.

Giffen writes: "David Clark, who held the position of national coach, did not agree with our plans, and publicly stated that he was working against them. On that basis, we terminated his contract." In a separate statement to the media, Rugby Canada issued a formal apology for inferring in an interview with Planet-Rugby.com that Clark lacked the skill-sets that the board was looking for.

"This is to confirm that the termination of the contract of employment of David Clark as coach of the National Senior Men's Team was not based upon his technical rugby-coaching skills or his performance while a coach of the team. This confirms the statement to that effect made by the president of Rugby Canada, Barry Giffen, in writing to Provincial Rugby Union executives on September 4th, 2001.

"Rugby Canada apologizes to Mr Clark in the event that anyone has drawn an inference to the contrary, as such an inference is unwarranted and unintended." The statement was a resolution of a threatened defamation suit by Clark, who claimed the inference of inadequate skill-sets hurt his reputation internationally, at a time when he was looking for work in his chosen field.