London Irish are currently competing in the Amlin Challenge Cup © Getty Images

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London Irish CEO Andy Martin says the newly formed Rugby Champions Cup will wipe out the losses in English and French rugby.

The battle is still raging over the future of European club rugby with Premiership Rugby (PRL) and Ligue Nationale de Rugby (LNR) both adamant clubs in the Aviva Premiership and the Top 14 will not take part in any tournament run by the current organisers of the Heineken Cup, European Rugby Cup Ltd.

Any new tournament will need International Rugby Board ratification and its chairman Bernard Lapasset said earlier this week he favoured a Union-run tournament rather than the proposed breakaway Champions Cup which the clubs will be in charge of.

The four Unions that make up the RaboDirect PRO12 - Italy, Scotland, Ireland and Wales - all said on Thursday they would only permit their respective clubs to take place in the Champions Cup if the IRB give it its seal of approval.

Martin is still hopeful the PRO12 teams will link-up with the new tournament and says the current plans will see two European competitions in place for the 2014-15 season. The first will consist of 20 sides with qualification split between the Premiership, Top 14 and PRO12 and will feature the teams who finished heighest. The second includes the other 18 sides who failed to qualify for the Champions Cup and they will play alongside two clubs from "new markets".

Those two sides could be Spanish, Romanian or Portuguese teams - who have previously played in the Amlin Challenge Cup- or it could open the door on southern hemisphere sides taking part in the tournament.

For Martin, he is adamant the newly proposed Champions Cup will put the Anglo-French sides on a more secure financial footing and he has revealed BT will help fund the new tournament.

"BT have got involved with us domestically and have put money on the table for the new European competition," Martin told the BBC. "That has enabled us to see a way forward. We believe the French will have the same opportunity.

"The pot that's going to be put into the European competition financially will be considerably greater than what it is today. Equally, it is going to be shared out across the teams so everyone benefits.

"This isn't about the English and French teams getting richer, it is about wiping out the losses in English and French rugby, that is how significant this could be. A lot of our clubs in England don't make money, if we get this right, that could all be taken out in one hit."