Disgruntled Sydney and Brisbane Premier rugby clubs are planning a breakaway eight-team interstate club championship to run in direct competition with the National Rugby Championship.

In a move designed to wrest the fate of grassroots rugby back from the hands of the Australian Rugby Union, the presidents of the Sydney and Brisbane clubs will meet next month in Sydney to discuss the rebel tournament, which would be made up of the top four clubs from both premier club competitions.

It is being proposed to run in direct competition with the NRC, which is in its third season and will welcome a team from Fiji next season. The NRC starts in August at the end of the Sydney and Brisbane premier club competitions, which were shifted forward to accommodate the NRC. The NRC grand final will be played this weekend in Tamworth between the NSW Country Eagles and Perth Spirit.

The plan comes on the back of a host of Australian rugby greats from the game's amateur era penning a letter of protest to ARU chairman Cameron Clyne and his board members this week. The letter, signed by former Wallabies Nick Farr-Jones, Simon Poidevin, Peter Grigg, Anthony Herbert, Mark McBain, Barry Honan, John Ballesty, Peter Falk and Brett Papworth, as well as former Australian coaches Bob Dwyer and Alan Jones, prompted ARU boss Bill Pulver to agree to a summit of stakeholders to review the union's strategic plan.