"he burn out of the players is absolutely terrifying," commented Pugh, whose views appear to be in line with the present stance taken by the Irish Rugby Football Union.

The IRFU have already said that, in an ideal world, the top backs in the country should play no more than 30 games in a season and that forwards should be restricted to about 25 matches.

The structures in Ireland are now such that this is an attainable goal although, of course, many of the country’s clubs are far from happy with the fact that they no longer have free access to the players they helped develop.

Today, former All Ireland League champions Shannon are about to issue a challenging statement on where they stand with the IRFU and Cork Constitution could be the next top club to air their views.

Pugh said, "It’s a hugely physical game at the moment, the nature of it has changed dramatically in the last five or six years and it’s incredibly demanding on the players and we do need to have a great deal of regard to their welfare.

"There are a number of them carrying injuries into new seasons and playing careers are stopped probably four, five or even six short of what they used to be able to achieve and I think it’s unfair."

Pugh, who is in Sydney overseeing Australia’s preparations to stage the 2003 World Cup, said the IRB would oppose any plans to stage an annual match between the northern and southern hemisphere champions and would block any moves to tamper with the existing competitions.

"I think it’s time for a bit of stability and settling even more firmly into the professional game and then re examining what may be available to us as options in a few years time," Pugh said.

"You cannot say never in rugby or indeed in any sport but at the moment we have pretty good structures in place.

"The six nations is working very well, the tri nations is a fantastic competition and we’ve got the pinnacle which is the World Cup every four years.

"We’ve also put in place a second tier six nations competition in Europe to bring on countries that really are developing very, very quickly and we’ve got the world sevens series so there’s a lot of rugby out there."

Australian Rugby Union managing director John O’Neill said the southern hemisphere’s top playing nations were trying to restructure their seasons to reduce the demands on top players.

He also said reports that he wanted England and France to join the tri nations series were incorrect.

"We’re always looking at ways of enhancing competitions and adding England and France sounds like a good idea but the fact of the matter is it’s not going to happen," O’Neill said.

"What we’re undertaking at the SANZAR (South Africa, Australia, New Zealand Rugby) is a review of the structure of the season which is driven by the concern we have that the top elite players in Australia and our joint venture players are playing from February right through to early December. Meanwhile, Australia has agreed to allow New Zealand to host one of the two semi finals at the 2003 World Cup to prevent a feud developing between the co hosts.

Australian Rugby Union (ARU) boss John O’Neill said Australia had wanted to stage both semi finals in Sydney after the city’s success in running the Olympics but would agree to give one to New Zealand to avoid upsetting their neighbour.

"As conceptually sound as it may be to have two semi finals in Australia, life goes on after the World Cup in 2003," O’Neill said. "I wouldn’t want to see the relationship with the New Zealand Rugby Union irreparably damaged and it may well be if we push that too hard."

Australia are the official hosts of the 2003 World Cup.

New Zealand agreed to act as co hosts.