Southend and Westcliff rugby club officials have held shock exploratory talks about a possible merger between the two sides.

Club representatives met to discuss the potential of pooling both side's resources in an attempt to strengthen rugby in the borough.

Westcliff press officer Geoff Sawyer said: "Southend approached us for talks about a possible merger, but it's not something that we have thought about.

"We are keeping an open mind about the whole matter, but it's obviously an option they are considering very seriously.

"If both clubs were to join forces sometime in the future I personally feel it would be a sad day for rugby in the borough as Westcliff and Southend would lose their own independent identities.

"Even though they are far ahead of us in league status at the present time, we have had some memorable matches in the past and it would be sad to lose that rivalry."

Westcliff currently compete in the Eastern Counties League One, three divisions below their Southend counterparts in London North One.

However, some local rugby chiefs believe that if the clubs amalgamated it would give the sport a huge boost and give the borough a better chance of gaining success on the field.

A spokesman for Southend Rugby Club confirmed: "We definitely feel that merging both clubs could be the way forward for rugby in this borough.

"It would provide advantages both playing wise and financially and is an option which needs to be investigated.

"All talks concerning this issue have been of an informal nature so far and it would be down to the individual members of each club to decide if such a unification could take place in the future."

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.