RFU refuses to endorse Premiership Rugby's bumper £152 million TV rights deal with BT vision BT is understood to be relaxed about the RFU's stance. It believes it will have the rights to English clubs" participation in a new pan-European tournament after the two years notice served on the European Rugby Cup earlier this year by English clubs has expired. BT is also believed to have been convinced by Premiership Rugby that Ligue Nationale de Rugby, with whom it has also struck a UK broadcast-rights deal, is prepared to throw its weight behind a new European competition despite public pronouncements from the LNR chief executive, Patrick Wolff, which might have suggested otherwise. The deal with BT Vision to show Premiership matches from next season remains unaffected by the RFU's ruling but without the guarantee of extra financial muscle of the European money of the BT Vision deal, English clubs will see their negotiating position greatly weakened in the face of what is expected to be an angry response from their fellow stakeholders. Premiership Rugby, which yesterday issued a statement claiming all 12 clubs had "full support" of its chief executive Mark McCafferty ahead of the RFU's ruling, declined to comment last night. But it is understood that it remains hopeful that the deal can be resurrected, given that the increased value of the broadcasting rights by 50 per cent could yet prove attractive to ERC if the pot was shared. Premiership Rugby also claim ERC was not in a position to sell the rights for European games beyond 2014 as both the English and French clubs had given a two-year notice of their intention to leave the current accord. Yet if that could be interpreted as a stalemate position, the European competition could still continue without the English clubs, as it did in 1999 when they last boycotted the competition. The role of the French Top 14 clubs now seems key. Patrick Wolff, the vice-president of the French National Rugby League, revealed yesterday that the French will demand immediate answers over the TV rights issue. "For us the most important thing is that we don't want to waste one or two years on lawyers explaining who has the rights," said Wolff. We want a quick answer. If we waste two years on the TV rights everyone will lose - Celts, English and French. Everything must be over by the end of the year.