Rugby Union: Union Revives Baa-baas Game to Bridge Funding Gap

The RFU have agreed for England to play the Barbarians every May at Twickenham as it looks at ways of paying for an agreement with the Premiership clubs over the management of elite players.

The union will have to find at least an extra £8m annually and the Barbarians fixture should generate a seven-figure sum for the RFU, which is also considering a fourth international every November having stressed that it would have to fund a deal with the clubs by generating new money.

The Barbarians have just arranged their first fixture against a major touring side for three years; they will meet South Africa at Twickenham next December with the IRB keen to revive what was one of the game's enduring traditions in the amateur era. The club has returned to organizing matches in-house having franchised them out for most of the decade.

The RFU has suffered financially from England's decline in form since the 2003 World Cup, a downturn which was starkly emphasized yesterday when bookmakers made Brian Ashton's team 16-1 to retain the Webb Ellis Trophy. New Zealand are 2-5 favorites, South Africa (6-1), France (8-1), Ireland (11-1) and Australia (14-1). Wales were quoted at 25-1 with Scotland unfancied at 150-1.

The Wales captain, Gareth Thomas, flew home yesterday from the two-Test tour to Australia into a battle of a different kind with his club Toulouse, who lost their French championship semi-final to Clermont Auvergne on Saturday and are determined to take legal action after accusing the 32-year-old of breaking his contract by joining Wales.

Toulouse wanted Thomas, who is moving to Cardiff Blues next month, to remain with them for the final weeks of the French championship and were unimpressed when Wales chose the experienced utility back despite naming a largely reserve squad for the trip. In the build-up to the tour Wales's medical team said that Thomas was not able to return to France to train with his club because of illness.

The Toulouse president, René Bouscatel, said he was prepared to take Thomas to court, even though the Welsh Rugby Union maintains that the French club had no option but to release the player under International Rugby Board regulations. "I will not deal with someone who is ungrateful," said Bouscatel. "I will have him."

The WRU will cover Thomas's costs in a legal battle and has advised him to seek professional advice. "Our view is that Gareth Thomas has not breached his contract," said the union's chief executive, Roger Lewis. "The tour was sanctioned by the IRB and we had written confirmation from the French Rugby Federation that Gareth had to be released by Toulouse."

Thomas has been at Toulouse for the last two seasons but he has hardly played for the club this year because of international commitments, illness and the month's suspension he served for confronting Ulster supporters during a Heineken Cup group match in France after his club colleague Trevor Brennan had been involved in an incident.

He said: "I am very sad that my time with the club is ending like this. I had a wonderful time there and made some close friends. I wanted an amicable parting and I still hope things can be sorted out because I have done nothing wrong."

Worcester yesterday signed the Samoa and Newcastle outside-half Loki Crichton, whose missed kick in front of the posts at the end of the Falcons' match at Sixways in March effectively sealed the Warriors' Premiership survival.