NEIL Bayliss has resigned from his role as Director of Rugby at Launceston Rugby Club, a day before the start of pre-season training.

The resignation came at an emergency board meeting on Monday evening, after he heard that his playing budget would be 'dramatically reduced'.

Bayliss took over as director of rugby last season, following the sudden departure of Cliff 'Spike' Rainford.

Mike Lewis and Pale Nonu joined Bayliss to make up the coaching team, and they worked hard to help the club reach tenth place in the league.

The club has lost a few players over recent weeks to Plymouth Albion, namely Jon Dawe, Matthew Shepherd and Christian Judge, with more expected to leave.

But Bayliss was confident that he would retain the majority of the squad with the addition of several new players.

However, the night before they were due to join players for the first pre-season training session, an emergency board meeting was called at Polson to discuss the playing budget for the coming season.

Bayliss said the budget had originally been set during the off-season, but two weeks ago he called a meeting to voice concerns due to conversations he had with various board members.

"It was decided, after discussion, that the budget would remain the same as initially agreed. However, during tonight's meeting [Monday], the board voted in favour of dramatically reducing the playing budget for the 2015-16 season.

"Many of our most loyal players, who have been at Launceston for as long, if not longer than me, are self-employed and travel between 180 and 480 miles a week to train and play for this club that they love. The money they are paid barely covers their costs and the simple fact is that they cannot afford to do it without a certain level of recompense."

Bayliss believed the decision would have a detrimental effect on the club, on and off the field.

"I believe that these cuts will render the club's league status unsustainable, as we will undoubtedly lose the majority of the current squad and the new signings will not materialise. As a result of this, results on the pitch will suffer."

He praised the players but said he felt let down off the pitch, and as such, resigned from the role with immediate effect.

For the full report, and a round-up of the area news and sport, see this week's edition of the Post.