JOOST van der Westhuizen (pictured) is not joining Newport amid accusations from the club that his conduct has been shameful.

Eleventh hour talks with the 75 times capped South African scrum half, who signed a one-year contract with Newport months ago, broke down yesterday.

Newport are disgusted with the player after he tried to renegotiate his contract to a short-term one as late as yesterday.

And then, when Newport showed signs of agreeing to his late demands, he backed out altogether.

Claims last week that the South African Rugby Union wanted a development fee for the player and that he wanted time to think over a new contract offer from SARFU have proved irrelevant.

The breakdown in talks long after the Newport contract had been signed has resulted in the whole deal being called off.

Newport chief executive Keith Grainger said today: After days of deliberation, Joost indicated he might be prepared to come if the club would grant him the ability to turn up in mid-September, go back to South Africa for the November internationals and then release him totally in January to play Super 12s.

He would, therefore, be here for two-and-a-half months. But having asked us to consider that option, my understanding was that he wanted to stay in South Africa in any case.

Clearly the club do not under any circumstances want to have any player who isnt totally committed and with regret we announce he is not joining us.

On a personal level the words frustration, disappointed and annoyed come to mind. Tony Brown treats the players with 100% respect and understanding and this has been the case with Joost. But his communication has been desperately poor and his respect for Tony has been shameful.

Newport backer Brown, who has spent many hours trying to finalise the deal, has apologised to supporters. Joost has a contract with Newport which in a court of law would be enforcable. But it would not be sensible to bring a player to Newport who was unhappy, he said.

I apologise to club supporters for the situation. I can only say that I have never worked harder to bring about a deal which would have considerably enhanced our playing strength.

The last few weeks have been dominated by phone calls to South Africa and to New Zealand to try to resolve this matter.

Last Tuesday I again spoke to Joost when he again told me he was looking forward to playing for Newport. That is obviosuly not now the case.

Until recently I was confident everything was in place. Again, I would apologfise to our supporters if they feel I have let them down.

It has always been my intention to bring some of the worlds great players to Rodney Parade, but unfortunately this does not always come about.

On the positive side, despite the result at Cardiff we have a squad and coaching staff capable of contending for honours. One man does not make a team.

Grainger insists the search is on to bring world class talent to the club. Newport will have to move fast because the deadline for Heineken Cup qualification is the end of next week. The pressing need is for a scrum half, with Dale Burn the only reasonably experienced and fit player available.

With leading players here under contract, a Southern Hemisphere replacement for van der Westhuizen will almost certainly have to be brought in.