Premier Rugby, the umbrella body representing England's elite clubs, is seeking a review of the automatic relegation policy from the Zurich Premiership following the financial collapse of the demoted Rotherham.

A consortium has assembled a rescue package for the Titans which Twickenham is considering. Rotherham's plight echoes that of Bristol who suffered the drop 12 months before and lost all their players after the owner Malcolm Pearce withdrew his backing.

Automatic relegation is due to continue for another four seasons, but a review is possible if Premier Rugby and First Division Rugby agree, with a return to a play-off system the preferred way for the former.

"There is nothing romantic about automatic relegation," said Howard Thomas, the chief executive of Premier Rugby. "It causes untold misery and destabilises the sport. What has happened to Rotherham and Bristol in the last two years shows that this issue requires renewed debate. The backers of Rotherham could not be expected to write cheques for ever.

"The gulf between the Premiership and the First Division is too high in both financial and playing terms. The one is a fully professional league, where standards and facilities improve each year, while the other is semi-professional at best.

"By giving clubs a mere 12 months lease in the Premiership, we are denying ourselves investment from backers and banks to improve facilities still further. It is no use pretending we are like soccer. Imagine what would happen if a team from football's Premiership was relegated to the Conference, yet our system is the equivalent of that."

Premier Rugby provided Rotherham's parachute payment of £760,000 in one lump sum this month to allow the club to meet the wage bill and help the consortium bidding to take control, but Thomas admitted it was small compensation for the loss of status.

"The average turnover of a club in the Premiership is £6m a year while in the First Division it is £1m" he said. "That is a huge difference and we feel that it is both right and sensible to have a play-off system to prove that the club seeking promotion is stronger than the one which finishes at the bottom of the Premiership."

Australia yesterday lost the second member of their coaching team in as many days when Andrew Blades joined Roger Gould in resigning.

"The timing has nothing to do with Roger's decision" said Blades, who did not inform the Australia coach Eddie Jones about his decision in advance.