England head coach Andy Robinson will spend all of March 4 with his fingers tightly crossed after Premier Rugby confirmed Wasps, Leicester and Bath will field full-strength sides for the Powergen Cup semi-finals.

More than half of Robin-son's first-choice XV will be in action at the Millennium Stadium - where Leicester meet Wasps and Bath face Llanelli - just a week before England take on France in a vital Six Nations clash in Paris.

Robinson wants his England stars to be rested the week before Test matches to extend preparation time and reduce the chances of injury but, under the current agreement, the Rugby Football Union cannot demand clubs leave out their international players.

Nevertheless, fans were still confused by the situation and were reluctant to buy tickets for the semi-final double-header until they received some clarification.

With 30,000 tickets still available, Premier Rugby decided to re-confirm the likes of Martin Corry, Lawrence Dallaglio and Steve Borth-wick will be available for semi-final duty.

Premier Rugby chief executive Mark McCafferty said: "We felt it was vitally important that rugby fans were

assured that clubs will be playing to full strength on the day and that their internationals would be available for selection in these key matches.

"All three Guinness Premiership clubs are after the Powergen Cup this season for their trophy cabinet, as well as the Heineken Cup place next season."

Before last night's shock resignation, Wales head coach Mike Ruddock would not risk his side's Six Nations title defence by releasing any Llanelli players for the semi-final.

The Scarlets could conceivably find themselves without Matthew Watkins, Mark Jones, Dwayne Peel and Dafydd Jones for their clash with Bath.

An agreement is in place between the Wales team management and the four Welsh regions whereby on any weekend prior to a Wales international, the Welsh-based players selected within the starting XV for Wales will stand down for their region.

Management promise to revise the position after Wales' next game, against Ireland on February 26, but any alteration would be made on their terms.

Llanelli will be able to call on Simon Easterby because Ireland are are obliged to release the flanker back to the Scarlets during noninternational weeks.