ENGLAND remain at-logger-heads with Wales, Scotland and Ireland over their Sky TV deal despite a five-hour meeting in Cardiff last night.

Senior officials of the Home Unions failed to make progress that would offer England a way back into the Five Nations championship after they were expelled from the competition earlier this month.

Sir Tasker Watkins, the president of the Welsh Rugby Union, who hosted the meeting said: "There's been a frank exchange of views between the four unions. The differences which divide them have not been resolved this evening so far.

"However, the president of the Rugby Union and his colleagues will urgently consult with their executive committee with a view to seeking fresh proposals for submission to a meeting of the Five Nations.

Watkins said the issue would be discussed at a scheduled meeting in London of the Five Nations committee today, when the French will also attend.

He added that he did not expect it to be resolved today, although he said he was hopeful.

John Richardson, the new president of the RFU, was reluctant to speak, even though he had instigated the high-powered get-together.

I need to ascertain the views of colleagues, but I don't want to jeopardise further negotiations," he said. "I hope to bring good news to everybody. We are trying to be positive.

The failure of this meeting means that England are still excluded from the Five Nations and the possibility comes ever closer that their scheduled 1997 opener against Scotland in February will be one of many cancellations.

Meanwhile, fresh problems have emerged for the Welsh and English unions over the running of club rugby.

The Welsh union, which has opposed Sky's bid to secure the exclusive rights for the championship, was told by its 12 first division clubs that they had agreed a five-year, £22 million deal with the satellite company for the televising of their league matches and an Anglo-Welsh competition.

The same amount of money has been offered to their English counterparts, one of whose delegates addressed a meeting of the Welsh clubs earlier this week. He told them that the English Professional Rugby Union Clubs (Epruc) had not heard from the Rugby Football Union since the deal was agreed between the two parties eight weeks ago.

The Welsh clubs denied they were resuming hostilities with the WRU, though the timing of their announcement was an embarrassment to the union's chairman, Vernon Pugh, who is also the chairman of the International Rugby Board.

The board's rules dictate that television contracts can only be negotiated by unions. The same applies to sponsorship, with the clubs saying they had found backers for both the Welsh league and the Anglo-Welsh tournament.

The deal with Sky was arranged by Jonathan Price, the former commercial executive of the WRU who resigned from the Union three years ago having been suspended pending an inquiry into certain allegations.

The Cardiff chief executive Gareth Davies said he did not expect any opposition from the WRU when the deal is concluded next week.

"They told us earlier this month to come up with money from the competitions and we have. We have kept them fully informed," Davies said.

The reaction from the WRU was different, incredulity turning to hostility. The belief was that the announcement had been timed deliberately to weaken the WRU's position in the negotiations between the three home unions and the RFU. It added that no television or sponsorship deal could be agreed without it playing a full part, which again places it on a collision course with its leading clubs.

Llanelli, Cardiff and Swansea have all put firm offers together to lure St Helens and Wales rugby league centre Scott Gibbs back to rugby union. Swansea is Gibbs's former club.

St Helens will not sell Gibbs for less than £200,000, but the right price is likely to secure a contract.

"There has been renewed interest from Wales, but we will only let Scott go at the right price," said Saints chief executive David Howes.

"He has told us he'd prefer to return to union in Wales. We will be reluctant to let him go