Caisley on attack over quota cuts

Chris Caisley, the chairman of Super League champions Bradford Bulls, has put himself on a collision course with the new executive chairman of the Rugby Football League, Richard Lewis, over the future of the international game.

Lewis has made it clear that he wants to lift international rugby league into a position of prominence, and has called on Super League chairmen to put country before club. He believes that Great Britain's record 64-10 defeat by Australia last month has crystallised the need for change, and is set to push ahead with proposals to cut the number of overseas players in Super League.

That has raised the hackles of Caisley, the former Super League chairman and a fervent advocate of club rugby. "I support any reasonable attempt to improve our international team, but not at the expense of premier club rugby league," he said. "It is vitally important that our club competition improves year on year; strength at international level will only come on the back of a vibrant Super League competition. If that falls away, there will be no infrastructure to support the international team."

Caisley made it clear that he intends to fight proposals to cut the overseas quota and to reduce the number of League matches. "If somebody can come up with a way of adequately compensating the clubs for their losses, there may be some who would give it a go," he said. "But the collective loss to Super League clubs of reducing the number of home fixtures and having a mid-season break for internationals would be substantial and, at the moment, unsustainable.

"Hopefully, this message will hit home and we will not embark on any more knee-jerk reactions."

Caisley will have been happier with events on the pitch on Friday night as the Bulls thrashed arch-rivals Leeds 46-18 at Valley Parade to open up a four-point lead over St Helens. Bradford forward Stuart Fielden had the last laugh after suffering a front-on assault from his Great Britain team-mate Barrie McDermott on 31 minutes which led to the Leeds prop's dismissal. Bradford were leading 22-6 at the time, and Fielden went on score one of his side's eight tries and was voted man of the match by the Bradford fans in the 13,621 crowd.

Leeds hung on to fourth place only on points difference following Hull's 30-22 win at relegation-threatened Wakefield.