Heineken Cup deal close as talks 'go well' A deal to salvage the Heineken Cup next season now looks within reach after a meeting of the Six Nations council broke up on Tuesday night with a commitment to seek a pan-European solution to the impasse. The five-hour talks at Heathrow were described by sources close to the negotiations as "the most positive yet" and appeared to indicate that the prospect of any nation being left out of any future competitions was now unlikely. The Welsh, Irish, Scottish, French and Italian unions met last Friday to discuss their plan to push ahead with a 20-team tournament given the decision by the English clubs to no longer participate in tournament run by European Rugby Cup. It is understood that one of the key developments on Tuesday was the French Rugby Federation's decision to drop its insistence that Fira, the European administrative body, should oversee the governance of future European competitions. The negotiation position returned to the deal that was almost reached last October before the French walked out for the new European tournaments to be governed by the Six Nations, with revenues to be split equally between the three leagues, a reduction of the Heineken Cup from 24 to 20 clubs and a greater degree of meritocracy in the qualifying process. The issue of allowing the clubs, rather than the Six Nations, take charge of the commercial rights still remains to be resolved, as does the broadcasting issue given the English clubs' commitment to BT Sports, but one source said on Tuesday night: "We are close." The Rugby Football Union will report back to the English clubs this week and their response to the proposals will be key to getting a new deal over the line.