The luring of Super 14 rugby players to the English Premiership could be on the decline if plans to reduce the size of a club's squad and salary cap come into force.

A report in the London Sunday Telegraph said Premier Rugby, the umbrella body for England's leading 12 clubs will meet later this month to discuss the changes.

One suggestion is to limit the size of Premiership squads to between 35 to 40 players, with 38 the number most likely to win approval.

If this restriction was already in place, Bath would be forced to ditch 10 players; Harlequins, Bristol and Newcastle six each; Wasps and Northampton four; Leicester two and Gloucester one.

The remaining four Premiership clubs - London Irish, Sale, Saracens and Worcester are all on or under the proposed limit.

Last month Premier Rugby agreed a new television deal which will see it paid in excess of STG54 million ($A112 million) over three years.

However, there are concerns about how the Premiership will get through the economic difficulties caused by the worldwide credit crunch before the new television deal kicks-in.

Newcastle and Bristol, both struggling at the foot of the Premiership table are known to have financial problems and this has led to speculation that England's top division may be reduced to 10 clubs.

The salary cap was raised to STG4 million ($A8.3 million) at the start of this season.

But the proposal now being put forward is that the ceiling be reduced to STG3.5 million ($A7.2 million) for the 2009-10 season, although it would need a 75 per cent majority vote of the clubs for the cut to come into effect.

"We have got pretty good visibility from 2010 onwards with the new TV deals in Europe and domestically," McCafferty added.

"So really the issue is how do we tighten our belts for the next couple of years and get between one million and 1.5 million pounds on the bottom line of each club through a combination of cost-cutting and revenue generation?

"If we can do that, we feel we can steer the clubs through the next couple of years. By then, hopefully, things will be picking up again."

Players' Association chief executive Damian Hopley warned: "You can't ask the players to take the rap by themselves.

"A lot of contracts are already locked in, and it is very hard for players, with families to feed and mortgages to support, to be told that they might have to re-negotiate.

"Some clubs aren't happy with the proposals either. They say they have made agreements with their players in good faith and want to honour them."

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