No date has yet been set for the RFU’s next meeting with Premier Rugby but Baron urged the clubs’ umbrella body to make their stance clear and enter negotiations aiming to strike a deal.

Baron said: “We met the clubs in August and said we were prepared to look at everything. Promotion and relegation has always been an article of faith on our side – but we are prepared to look at that again and if the right solution is there for the game we have to address that issue.

“We have got to make the breakthrough. We have been trying for so many years through various negotiations to find a model that is for club and country and we have failed.

“If we are going to get to a position where the clubs have certainty over their future and the union has certainty over access to elite players for the development of World Cup-winning sides it means finding a new way forward.

“Both sides have got to give up some of the dearly held positions they have vigorously defended for many years. If we don’t do that we will never break the mould and find a way forward that delivers what we both want – a successful club game, a successful national side.

England head coach Andy Robinson would like to introduce a block release system which covers the autumn internationals and the RBS 6 Nations Championship.

Baron and his negotiating partner Martyn Thomas, the RFU’s chairman, are frustrated at what they see Premier Rugby not willing to reciprocate their offer of compromise.

“We don’t know where we stand,” said Baron.

“We hear on the grapevine the clubs are not interested in talking about blocking, but we need to hear from them. We hear they are not interested in franchising, so we won’t be talking about that.

“We don’t think the PRL are prepared to talk about promotion and relegation either. We don’t know what they are prepared to talk about. PRL appear to have changed their position and we need to know what that is. We need to be formally advised over it.”

PRL have also changed the structure of their negotiation panel, which is now chaired by Gloucester owner Tom Walkinshaw – a man known to drive a hard bargain.

When asked whether the appointment of Walkinshaw meant the RFU were in for a long cold winter, Thomas replied: “I am sure Churchill didn’t sit down with Stalin out of choice.”

He then qualified the statement by adding: “We have always got on very well in the negotiations and we will sit down with whoever those bodies want to put forward.

“We have had some constructive discussions and we have had some difficult discussions. The fact we have sorted out the New Zealand game and the release periods for this year is very positive.

“The entrenched positions can’t be maintained. The RFU will go in with an open mind on the way forward and we have put a number of innovative ideas on the table.”

Thomas confirmed the deal struck for the autumn Tests will leave clubs without most of their internationals for the full month.

Although no player will play more than three of England’s four Tests next month, the Long Form agreement stipulates a full game only counts as 41 minutes or more.

Therefore a player could start three games and come on as a second-half replacement in the fourth and still abide by the letter of the agreement.

England open their autumn campaign against New Zealand on November 5 before taking on Argentina then South Africa twice on successive weekends.