ENGLISH rugby's year-long feud is finally over after the Rugby Football Union (RFU) and the English Professional Rugby Union Clubs (EPRUC) hammered out an agreement in Leicester yesterday.

Both the RFU president, John Richardson, and the chairman of EPRUC, Donald Kerr, expressed their delight that the dispute has at last come to an end. Within the next week a final accord will be produced to protect the future of the first-class game in England.

In recent weeks the argument has eaten into the game at the highest level, with England training sessions cancelled and the divisional teams weakened by EPRUC's decision to withdraw, players.

There is now no threat to the top players' participation in the Five Nations Championship next year.

England players, who face New Zealand Barbarians on Saturday at Twickenham, can happily sign their international contracts - worth up to £70,000 for those who appear in every match.

A joint RFU and EPRUC statement issued last night read: "After a day of discussion and further negotiations, the EPRUC negotiating team has agreed to recommend to its member clubs that there is now a basis for acceptance of an agreement with the RFU.

"It is intended that within the next seven days a final agreement is produced for acceptance."

Richardson said: "We have been mandated to reach agreement with the EPRUC clubs and I shall be delighted to inform my committee colleagues of this historic meeting. I am very pleased with the good spirit in which final negotiations were handled."

Kerr added: "I am very pleased to recommend to our member clubs that we now have a basis for agreement which we intend to complete within the next seven days.

Cliff Brittle, chairman of the RFU executive committee, has frequently been accused by EPRUC of blocking a settlement but last night he was also a happy man.

"After months of negotiations we have finally reached a fair agreement and one which we can commend to the game as a whole and which will put English rugby in a strong position to face the future," he said.

Brittle took office at the start of the year and on the day he was elected in January the game's troubles exploded, with a special general meeting breaking up in disarray.

The distribution of television rights, players' contracts, the release of players for England and representative duty, control over the competitions and the structure of the season were all divisive issues.

Last spring the clubs announced their intention not to take part in RFU competitions, but then came back under the Twickenham umbrella.

At the start of the season there was another threat to break away, which was later withdrawn while the prolonged committee-room dealings continued. Now, three months into the season, everybody is ready to make a concession.

Kerr said: "We go into this meeting just wanting to get it, over. It has been a nightmare."

England coach Jack Rowell and new England captain Phil de Glanville welcomed the agreement.

Rowell said: "This is very uplifting news after a prolonged period of anxiety. It is a huge weight off my mind. It has been something that has been overhanging much of what we do for England.

"The England squad can now be focused and it is good for the whole game in this country"

Glanville added: "This is excellent news. We will have to look at the terms of the agreement, but the logical conclusion must be that the England players can sign the contracts offered to them by the RFU."