England manager Clive Woodward insists he does not blame Graham Henry for the Lions' defeat in Australia - but stands by the comments he made in a controversial e-mail.

In the private correspondence, issued to various agents and selected journalists, Woodward accused the Lions coaching team of not setting the correct example to their players.

It has now become public knowledge, inflaming what is already seen as a rift between Woodward and Henry over the New Zealander's appointment as Lions coach for the trip Down Under.

But while there is little doubt that Woodward would have adopted an alternative strategy had he been in charge of the touring party, he insists he is not pointing the finger at Henry for the failure to defeat the world champions.

"I am totally supportive of Graham," he said. "Just from what the players are saying, it is clear there have been mistakes. But what I am asking for is the England players to back off when they think about criticising."

Woodward became embroiled in arguments over the Lions when he claimed they were "panicking" when he was ordered to send Martin Corry to Australia barely 24 hours ahead of England's encounter with Canada in Vancouver.

Meanwhile, rugby union and rugby league moved closer to a merger at the highest level yesterday when it was claimed that leading Super League clubs are positioning themselves to switch codes in Britain.

In a move that would cause a huge outcry among league traditionalists, reports coming out of Sydney suggested that two of the north's big four clubs might be playing in union's Zurich Premiership as early as next year.

None of the four - Wigan, Bradford, Leeds and St Helens - would confirm last night that defections were imminent, but one Super League club's chief executive indicated just what an upheaval it would cause when he reacted sharply to the reported comments of one of England's most powerful union administrators, who had predicted that the switch would come in time for the 2002-3 season.

"I hate rugby union, I don't want anything to do with it. And I wouldn't like to be the person who has to get rugby league supporters on side," said the rugby league club boss. "There's a very big difference between running teams in both codes to get more use out of a stadium, and jumping ship completely."

Yesterday's storm was sparked by a speech given by the Leicester Tigers chief executive Peter Wheeler at a dinner in Sydney at the end of the Lions tour.

Wheeler said: "Some of the league clubs are looking down the track and thinking where their future should lie. I hope we might see one or two in \the Premiership by the season after next, the one starting in September next year."

His remarks, quoted in yesterday's Sydney Morning Herald, will be seen as the strongest indication yet that professional rugby league in Britain is under serious threat of being swallowed up by the rival from which it broke in 1895.

The Australian Rugby Union (ARU) called a meeting yesterday with Rod Macqueen after reports South Africa were considering hiring the successful former Wallabies coach as a consultant.

South Africa coach Harry Viljoen said in Cape Town on Monday that the struggling Springboks could not rule out trying to use Macqueen in the future. Springbok flanker Corne Krige has been ruled out of the first Tri-Nations test against New Zealand on July 21st with a thigh injury and will be replaced by former skipper Andre Vos.

The Springboks are expected to name centre Marius Joubert as the only new cap for the match. The team will be named today.