IN a major change of policy, forced by circumstances rather than will, another strand of amateurism has been sacrificed to the new professional order. Following a mortatorium on remuneration to players in Ireland, payment will be permitted at club level next season.

While the IRFU has not offered any encouragement for such payments, there is also the realisation that, in the current climate, it would be almost impossible to police a situation that would prohibit payments by clubs. There is also an awareness that, while many clubs did honour the moratorium last season, there were some who did not.

There has been a lot of discussion on this issue with club representatives, including a meeting between IRFU officers and the representatives of all senior clubs. A considerable amount of time was devoted to the matter and it was referred back to the IRFU.

This means that clubs can now, in fact, contract players and some will do so in an effort to stem flow to England. On that issue Ireland forward Jeremy Davidson, whose name has been linked with London Irish in recent weeks, looks set to join the ever increasing number of internationals with that club. Davidson met officials of the club this week and is expected to sign for London Irish next week.

In another important change from last season, players who moved clubs and registered by the June 1st will be eligible to play competitive matches for their new clubs from the start of next season. In the past, players moving clubs - other than those moving to new locations in the course of their employment or leaving university - were not eligible for their new clubs until January 1st, if they had played three or more league matches the previous season.

The IRFU has also allocated a further £40,000 each to the four provinces to meet coaching and management expenses for the provincial teams. This opens the way for team managers and coaches to be paid by the provinces.

The Ireland squad to compete in the Students' World Cup will leave for South Africa tomorrow. Because of the withdrawal of Poland the groupings have had to be realigned and Romania will now compete in Ireland's groups with Wales and Argentina.

Ireland will be without internationals Niall Hogan, Jeremy Davidson, David Humphreys and Jonathan Bell, all of whom are eligible but unavailable as a A international Shane Byrne. Ireland will open their challenge against Wales on June 29th, play Romania on July 2nd and complete their group matches against Argentina on July 7th.