RUGBY: Despite the ongoing successes of the Irish rugby team, it transpires that last week's historic win over South Africa was conceived amid a backdrop of growing frustration amongst the players with the IRFU.

And unless the vexed issues of match fees and win bonuses, along with player representation on the Union's Management Committee, are resolved by the end of the year, it could well lead to another damaging stand-off between the two parties before the Six Nations in February.

At the core of the players' grievances is what they see as the Union's footdragging over match fees (€1,270) and win bonuses (€3,810) for test matches, which haven't budged since 1998 and now lag behind all their main international rivals with the exception of Wales (whose Union is an estimated £70 million in debt) and the equally hard-pressed Scots - whose players, as yet, do not have a Union.

When the dispute over tour fees for the two-test South African series last June was resolved the week before departure, the Union agreed to sit down with the chief executive of the Irish Rugby Union Players' Association Niall Woods and renegotiate match fees and win bonuses. The players also signed their existing contracts on the basis that match fees and win bonuses would be renegotiated on their behalf by IRUPA and the IRFU.

However, prior to the Union's opening offer, to be tabled at a meeting between representatives of the two parties tomorrow, the only proposal emanating from 62 Lansdowne Road in the interim was that the match fees be disbanded and subsumed into the win bonuses.

This was in turn put to the Irish squad on Monday last week, prior to the victory over the Springboks, by Woods, which merely heightened their dissatisfaction.

"Negotiations started last February with regard to match fees and win bonuses," commented Woods yesterday. "The summer tour was a separate issue but when that was resolved it was decided that the win bonus issue would be discussed and resolved after the tour. But little or nothing has happened since."

Having beaten the World Champions and the Tri Nations champions this year, the players are particularly annoyed that while the Union's stated goals are for the Irish team to compete with the leading nations, when it comes to match payments, the Union draws comparisons with Wales and Scotland.

In comparison to the Irish match fees of €1,270, rising to a total of €5,080 in the event of a victory, the Wallabies (who are also centrally contracted) receive €6,500 win, lose or draw, as well as bonuses of the same amount for winning either the Bledisloe Cup or the Tri-Nations. England's players receive €11,000 per player win, lose or draw, as well as an undisclosed sum toward their image rights. The French receive up to €9,200, including a match preparation fee of €1,850 for the players, as well as bonuses for draws and winning the Championship or Grand Slam which, last season, reputedly earned them €22,000 per man.

Indeed, except for Ireland, all the major test-playing nations (including Wales and Scotland) receive incentive payments for their performances in the Six Nations championship or the Tri Nations.

Were the Irish match fees effectively scrapped, and subsumed into the win bonuses, Woods makes the point that had the Springboks scored a late equalising try the Irish players wouldn't have received a cent in match fees last week.

To the Union's claim that their players are handsomely paid anyway, Woods says: "Only 22 get picked on the week of an international. There are additional duties, such as press duties, training, the mental side of preparation for a test match, the actual game itself and what it takes out of you, post-match corporate, sponsorship and press duties. And if you lose by a point you should get nothing?

"A portion of them are paid well but Roy Keane earns more in two weeks than the majority of international players earn in a year, and that's the reality of it. We're not looking for huge money, just a reasonable increase. The fees and bonuses haven't gone up since 1998, since when ticket prices have gone up 80 per cent."

The players' increasing frustrations are compounded by the knowledge that the old match fees and bonuses (which only apply against countries in the top nine) will again apply for this round of autumn internationals.

Woods' views were last night echoed by Brian O'Driscoll. "This has been dragging on for far too long," the Irish captain commented. "It was our understanding that the matter would be resolved in July and on behalf of all the players I would like to express the frustration within the squad at the delay in settling this issue. The players, as a group, are 100 per cent behind our association on this issue."

Another major bone of contention with the players is the Union's attitude to player representation on the IRFU Management Committee, a proposal which was also put to the Union as far back as last February.

"The Union's first reaction was 'why would you want that?' Well, the players are a major stakeholder, IRUPA represents the players and this is standard international practice," said Woods.

The Australian players union actually has two representatives on the Australian Union's management committee, the CEO of the English PRA, Damien Ian Hopley, sits on the RFU committee, as has, for many years, Woods's French counterpart, Serge Simon, while Richard Harry of the Welsh RPA sits on the nine-man Welsh committee (along with one representative from each of the four districts). The South African players' representative was co-opted onto SARFU's committee last September after a protracted stand-off between the players' association and SARFU. Woods cites the example of the recent Celtic Leaque review which saw the Celtic Cup replaced by end-of-season, top-eight play-offs.

"There was no player input into that review. We weren't even asked? Why can't you consult the blokes who actually play in the competition? This consultative process is merely in line with the other major rugby playing nations.

"The New Zealanders don't have it (a representative on the management committee), but they may as well have because they've such a good relationship. The players were even consulted about the appointment of a new (All Blacks) coach. We're not asking for this, or to control the game. We just want our views to be taken on board.

"The Union have been good on a number of issues, such as helping to get IRUPA off the ground, but the old amateur attitude toward the players, to be precise, still exists," added Woods.

Asked what might happen if these matters aren't resolved in advance of the Six Nations, Woods paused and said: "a hostile situation could very well develop."

We've been down this road before of course, when the IRFU patently misread the mood of the players in the row over tour fees prior to the series in South Africa, and to do so again would seem decidedly ill-advised.