ngland's elite professional clubs could find central funding withheld unless a compromise can be reached over the release of Clive Woodward's World Cup hopefuls next season.
Dispute has arisen in recent days with all 12 Zurich Premiership directors of rugby failing to turn up for a key meeting with Woodward and Rugby Football Union performance director Chris Spice on Wednesday.
The RFU went on the counter-offensive yesterday with chief executive Francis Baron admitting some big decisions will have to be made if a crisis meeting of English Rugby Board - the body which was set up to run the professional game - cannot resolve the impasse.
"The elite player squad programme is the cornerstone of the new agreement between the RFU and Premier Rugby," said Baron. "Any agreement involves a series of compromises but we can't allow this situation to drift on into the new season.
"I am always an optimist and I hope common sense will prevail but there will come a time when we have to say agreement is impossible. Once we reach that position we are in uncharted territory."
Woodward launched a furious broadside at Premier Rugby, the umbrella body for the 12 Premiership clubs, claiming they were 'running amok' with the game.
He insisted he will get his way over the release of between 50 and 60 nominated players on 20 days outside of the build-up to international games, and warned that if he did not, England could wave goodbye to any hopes of capturing the World Cup next year.
"It is good of Clive to make his position clear but nothing can be imposed without the agreement of ERB," said Premier Rugby's acting chief executive Howard Thomas.
"We have written asking for a special ERB meeting to discuss the situation and put the process back on track. "There is no point Clive Woodward and his team trying to ignore the situation and act like King Canute.
"With good debate and hard work we will resolve the problems but you can't underestimate some of the difficulties. It requires a lot of detailed work. We have made significant progress and the gaps have closed but there is still work to do."
Thomas claimed the decision not to attend Wednesday's meeting was taken after the RFU decided to invite players and their agents to the meeting.
That invitation was amended to 'players only' by RFU and ERB chairman Graeme Cattermole, but Premier Rugby refused to alter their stance.
Cattermole's claims that even he had not been told the clubs would not be attending the proposed gathering were brushed off by Thomas, who said Baron had been kept fully informed and individual directors of rugby backed the Premier Rugby stance.
This though is at odds with Woodward's reading of the situation. "It is not the directors of rugby, the ones I spoke to were really looking forward to attending the meeting, it is the people running them," he said.
"When I first heard about the joint management initiative, I was the most excited person in the RFU. It looked simple to me. The RFU were passing on substantial funds and in return we could run an elite player programme.
"Everything was fine until late November when I went to an ERB meeting and told them the training days I needed. "Instead of getting a decision I was told to meet the directors of rugby. They obviously have their own agenda and the whole thing turned into a shambles. It has been dragging on ever since.
"All I am asking for is a decision. If it goes against me that's fine but we can stop thinking about winning the World Cup. We will be like the football team, entering a major competition on a 'fingers-crossed' basis.
"This time 12 months ago the England team was right up there in terms of what we were doing, everyone was on fire. "The last 12 months have been average. Individual performances have gone down and at best the team has stayed the same.
"We have the players and coaching staff to win the World Cup but we are the worst-prepared side in the world. We have been together two days in total this year outside of Test week, it's like being the Barbarians."
