Newcastle may stop Popplewell

THE Newcastle club have threatened not to release their Scotland players next Saturday, when Scotland play Australia at Murrayfield. If the club carries out that threat it could have repercussions for Ireland.

The Ireland team to meet Western Samoa in Dublin tomorrow night week and the Ireland A team to play the Junior Springboks at Donnybrook the same afternoon include two Newcastle players. They are Nick Popplewell, who plays against Western Samoa and hooker Ross Nesdale, who is a replacement on the A side.

Both teams are scheduled to assemble in Limerick on Thursday for training sessions until Sunday when both squads will travel to Dublin.

The four Scottish players involved are Doddie Weir, Gary Armstrong, Peter Walton and George Graham.

Ireland manager Pat Whelan sets such importance in the sessions that his current position is that he will not release any of the Munster players, even those in the A side, to play for the province against Western Samoa in Cork next Saturday.

Under International Board law all clubs are obliged to release their players for official national training sessions, A and full internationals. Newcastle will be in clear breach of that if they carry out their threat to refuse the release of the players. The law is specific in that regard.

Newcastle's threat is because Rotherham have refused to postpone the league match against Newcastle next Saturday. But that is a domestic matter.

Whelan said last night: "I have not been told that Newcastle will not release our players and if or until such time as I am informed of any such threat or action officially, I am not really in a position to do anything. If, however, I am told that our players will not be released, then I will contact the IRFU and ask that they take the matter up with the English Rugby Union."

The RFU changed the law on domestic postponements some time ago to discourage their clubs from signing foreign players.

The problem for the RFU is that if they insist on Newcastle complying with the law on the release of players it will bring them into conflict with a powerful voice on EPRUC (The English Professional Rugby Union Clubs), the Newcastle chairman Sir John Hall.