What the game desperately needs is a sensible discussion about the way ahead.

We are not concerned with taking control of the board or taking more money at the expense of others. Our argument is that not enough is being done to enhance the commercial value of the Heineken Cup: more partners should be sought and there should be a sponsor for the Challenge Cup, a competition which is important but which does drain resources. We are not after a bigger slice of the pie: we want a bigger pie so that everyone gets more.

Our information is the RFU is about to drop its case.

There is no driver in the sport who carries the size of stick that Dale Earnhardt carried. Every sport needs its heroes and we have our heroes here, but there are heroes who are very much different than Dale Earnhardt. There just won't be another one.

I think he realizes he needs to be more aggressive. He didn't have to look for his shot as much last year because we had ( Kennedy ) Winston and ( Earnest ) Shelton . The team needs him to be a scorer and he's done that.

Texas' own view is this approach is meeting their needs.