The Scottish Rugby Union have reported Edinburgh to the International Rugby Board in a dispute over releasing players for Scotland duty.

Edinburgh have ordered 12 players, including leading internationals such as Chris Paterson and Mike Blair, to train with their club instead of the World Cup training squad.

The club deny wrongdoing and have transferred the players' registration to an independent company in a bid to pull away from the row.

Edinburgh owner Bob Carruthers earlier claimed he could be less than a month away from instigating legal action against the SRU in a separate dispute over funding.

SRU secretary Graham Ireland said: "We have now written to Edinburgh Rugby on two occasions, reminding them of their obligations to release players for Scotland duty in line with the International Rugby Board's requirements.

"Regrettably we have now been forced to refer the matter to the independent disciplinary body for consideration. It is now out of our hands. The disciplinary panel will independently determine the rights and wrongs of this case and sanction Edinburgh Rugby appropriately."

But Carruthers claims Edinburgh have co-operated with the SRU and the players will join on July 13th when they are required.

"We are not withholding the Scotland players," he said. "There is a very, very clear agreement signed by two sets of lawyers which sets out when the players have to be released. That is whatever was reasonable during May and June and then from the 13th of July.

"They asked for them for the whole of May and June and we gave them."

The Scotland squad have been focusing on weight training this week and Carruthers said the Edinburgh players would not fall behind as they will do the same with their club coaches.

"They are still professional athletes, conditioning themselves," he said.

Carruthers claims SRU chief executive Gordon McKie has threatened to close the club down if Edinburgh take legal action, and this morning claimed the players were too concerned over their livelihoods to train anyway.

"We can't have players going to the World Cup under threat of their jobs being taken away," he said. "They are downstairs wondering what to do — their employment is being threatened. They are thinking about their future — am I going to have a job in November?"

With Edinburgh and the SRU barely on speaking terms, the club have transferred the players' registration in a bid to pull back from the row.

"We have got a squad of 52 players, of these 12 of them are hoping to go to the World Cup," Carruthers said. "We have put all the regular squad into Edinburgh Rugby and taken the other players and put them into a separate management company. And that sports management firm can negotiate with the SRU.

"What we have got to do is ring-fence Edinburgh Rugby. Scotland is not Edinburgh's problem and it has been made to be Edinburgh's problem."