England rebels stall on peace deal

'I have seen the first draft of the contract and it's now a question of going through the detail. We'd have loved it to have been done before the autumn internationals. What happened before the Argentina match, happened. I genuinely thought it would have been sorted out last November.'

While another strike would be too ludicrous for words, the RFU's track record on industrial relations hardly inspires confidence. When the players decided that chief executive Francis Baron had not kept his side of the bargain, they did something which their paymasters had effectively defied them to do in the mistaken belief that it would never come to a strike.

Baron talked last week of a done deal with the players, via their agents, by the end of this week. But Johnson said: 'I'm not sure whether it will be done by then.'

Having been put through the emotional wringer by an issue which briefly threatened a serious breakdown in relations between the manager and the players whom he criticised for downing tools, Woodward will not rest easy until contracts are signed, thus eliminating the nightmare of picking an alternative England XV once and for all.

'I won't get involved unless there is another hiatus,' he said. 'I got involved the last time for obvious reasons. I'm keen for it to be settled, but if it's not done before the start of the championship, I don't see any problem.'

The strike gave the players what they wanted in terms of increasing their match fee and reducing the win bonus. Those fees have been paid retrospectively for the Australia, Argentina and South Africa matches. The detail still awaiting formal approval relates to players' compensation for the RFU's use of their intellectual property rights for commercial purposes and a percentage of the Union's annual profit, always assuming they make one.

Meanwhile, back in the board-room, England's Premiership clubs made a major concession which ought to end the impasse caused by the long-running saga over promotion and relegation between the top strata and the Second Division. The top 12 accepted RFU proposals for one up, one down at the end of this season and next.

That would mean Rotherham - whose rugby director Steve Cousins resigned yesterday - or Harlequins going down and Worcester coming up, provided the Second Division clubs play ball. The RFU now has to sell the plan to their negotiators, Tony MacArthur of Henley and Tudor Roberts of London Welsh, at Twickenham tomorrow.

With Worcester owner Cecil Duckworth in the vanguard, the Second Division clubs have threatened court action in support of their demand for two automatic promotion places and will hardly be thrilled that there will be none from season 2002-3. From then on, their champions will get nothing more than a two- leg play- off against the Premiership's bottom team.

On the global front, International Board chairman Vernon Pugh is preparing to intervene in the row which could prevent Australia staging the World Cup in two years' time following their Government's ban on Fiji from the World Sevens series in Brisbane as part of sanctions after last year's coup. Pugh has offered to meet Australian sports minister Jackie Kelly.

Deputy chairman Rob Fisher denied any plans had been drawn up to stage the event elsewhere.