Pay up.

Ospreys have threatened Newcastle Falcons with legal action over their apparent failure to pay the full £150,000 transfer fee for Fijian centre Josh Matavesi, according to a report by The Rugby Paper this morning.

The Welsh club are set to have received less than half of the fee, with £80,000 still outstanding. Newcastle have allegedly refused to pay the balance.

“They made one payment but refused to pay the rest” a source told The Rugby Paper

“Then it got to the stage where they wouldn’t talk about it. That left us no alternative but to issue a statutory demand.”

“They will have to settle or face some serious consequences. It just goes to show that all is not as well in the English game financially as some say it is. Cash-flow problems would seem to suggest that in some respects they are worse off than we are in Wales.”

A Newcastle Falcons official admitted that the money hadn’t been paid, noting that it will be in the Ospreys’ account by Monday.