Moves to slash the Super League salary cap look to have been successfully resisted until at least the middle of the year.

Bulls chairman Chris Caisley, a firm opponent of the cap, had threatened legal action if it was reduced. But noises coming out of the RFL following yesterday's meeting of club chiefs in Salford suggest an uneasy truce has been reached by the warring factions.

An RFL statement said the clubs had been told the salary cap would stand up in a court of law but had chosen to include the issue in a wide-ranging debate on the future of the game.

It said: "The clubs received re-assurance from their legal advisers on the legal status of the principle of a salary cap and had a wide-ranging discussion on its future.

"The consensus reached was that the salary cap should be considered as part of a wider debate on the long-term strategy for Super League."

Clubs are currently restricted to spending no more than 50 per cent of their income, up to a maximum of £1.8m, on players' wages and must also keep to 20 the number of players on salaries of £20,000-plus.

Several clubs, most notably Castleford, had called for a reduction of the cap from £1.8m. The Bulls, Wigan and St Helens are the clubs most strongly opposed to the proposals.

Bulls coach Brian Noble has called for the clubs in favour of reducing the cap to "come clean" about their reasons for wanting to do so.

"To my mind the salary cap is there for one reason only and that is to protect against poor administration," he said.

"Who is going to come clean with what the real reason behind reducing the salary cap is? Is it to dilute the competition and level it out? I'm publicly asking that. Is that what they want? Are they fed up with three or four clubs dominating the scene?

"For me, under the present guidelines, the competition has got stronger and stronger every year. If you under-prepare against any team you get beaten.

"We have a responsibility to set high standards and to bring everybody else up to those high standards. Reducing the salary cap and sharing everybody out, for me, will just reduce those standards."

Noble said the 50 per cent rule, which was designed to prevent clubs going into debt by spending too much on players, should be retained.

"I think the 50/50 rule is essential to the well-being of all the clubs in rugby league. The talk of dismantling that completely bamboozles me."