Master coach Wayne Bennett continues to rub English rugby league administrators and fans the wrong way, with the Rugby Football League vetoing his planned England warm-weather training camp.
Brisbane Broncos maestro Bennett, appointed to prepare England for next year's Rugby League World Cup in New Zealand and Australia, was setto take 17 leading Super League players for a two-week training camp in Dubai in early January.
However, Super League club coaches have criticised the camp, claiming it would disrupt their preparations for the 2017 Super League season and the RFL seems to agree.
"Following further discussions with Super League clubs, the England coaching staff and RFL have reflected on all views and concluded that the plans that are now in place would not deliver what was initially expected," said a spokeman.
The shock announcement further undermines the position of Bennett, who has also proposed a mid-year international in Sydney as an essential part of the World Cup build-up.
Bennett and the England management, which includes former national captains Kevin Sinfield and Jamie Peacock, had offered clubs £10,000 per player in compensation for the Dubai camp.
Bennett is halfway through a two-year contract, but failed to get England into the Four Nations final at Liverpool last month, losing to the Kiwis and Australia in preliminary games.
He recently claimed to have the backing of the Super League coaches, but Smith, St Helens boss Keiron Cunningham and Hull coach Lee Radford all expressed their opposition.
"I totally disagree with the rationale behind it," Smith told the Warrington Guardian. "I don't understand it whatsoever."
Smith said he expressed his concerns to Bennett, who was thought to be intending to attend only part of the camp, since it clashes with Broncos preparation for the new NRL season.
An RFL spokesman insisted Bennett will remain in charge and that the England team are now focused on the mid-season test in May, but the about-turn will be seen as major embarrassment to the RFL, who were keen to support Bennett.
RFL chief executive Nigel Wood played down any talk of a club-v-country row at an end-of-year media briefing earlier this month, but he has clearly bowed to pressure from Super League clubs, who were forced into arranging a second set of back-to-back fixtures to accommodate an early start to the season.
Several clubs will also be without their leading players when England play their proposed international against Samoa in Sydney on the weekend of May 7.
