Bath have refused to comment after it emerged they had withdrawn players from an England training session ahead of Saturday's Six Nations opener against Scotland at Murrayfield.

Bath coach Jon Callard, himself a former England international, took the club's current England crop with him for a training session on Monday, January 21st, as he prepared the side for last Sunday's European Cup quarter-final against Llanelli.

It was reported that the Premiership strugglers had been given a suspended, four-figure fine by England Rugby Limited - the joint English Rugby Football Union/clubs organisation which oversees the professional game there.

Bath's Mike Tindall made the England starting XV but club-mates Mike Catt and Danny Grewcock were dropped.

However, England manager Clive Woodward insisted Bath's action had not harmed the international prospects of their players. "The team is picked on merit, as always," said Woodward.

"All that stuff with Bath is nothing to do with me, it is all being handled by the England Rugby Limited board.

"Tindall is in the side, while the calls between Mike Catt or Will Greenwood and Danny Grewcock or Ben Kay were tight ones.

But the England hierarchy were clearly not best pleased at what they saw as unwarranted interference with their plans. On top of this, the amount of training time they could spend with the England squad was further reduced by Sunday's quarter-finals.

"It just makes things very difficult," said Woodward, referring to the European Cup matches. "I can't overstate the difference 24 hours makes between playing on a Friday night or Saturday, and a Sunday, in terms of preparing for what is a massive game for everyone."