No one could accuse the Rugby Football Union of not thinking big in the latest five‑year mission statement announced by its new chief executive, Steve Brown. Eddie Jones has long been focused on bringing back the 2019 World Cup but Brown has gone further by seeking to make rugby England’s strongest sport.

The day when rugby overtakes football as the country’s pre-eminent team sport is unlikely to dawn imminently but recent events at the Football Association have done little to dissuade the RFU it can set standards others will eventually seek to emulate. Brown admits the target is ambitious but is unapologetic.

“Our definition of strongest isn’t necessarily biggest,” he said, when asked how he imagined his vision would go down at Wembley. “That may be some way off for us but you don’t have to be big to be strong. We want to be the best in the country in terms of the way the game is governed and set standards that are a step change for us and other organisations as well.”

Coming from a union that was in meltdown less than six years ago following the acrimonious fallout from the 2011 Rugby World Cup, it also reflects the more settled atmosphere at Twickenham, with the 2015 World Cup having delivered a financial windfall and Jones having transformed the team’s fortunes.

For English rugby to continue to flourish, however, there is also official acknowledgement not everything in the rose garden is healthy. Injury concerns, financial uncertainty among Championship clubs and the numbers of players who give up the sport in their late teens remain obstacles to Brown’s desire to persuade floating fans that “rugby is good for you”.

Most pressing is the need to protect the game’s battered leading players amid talk of strike action. Nigel Melville, the RFU’s director of professional rugby, revealed he would be meeting players’ union representatives on 6 November to discuss their concerns over the mooted extension of the domestic league campaign.

“I think we’re very much in line with the players,” Melville said. “I’m not waiting until the end of the season, I want them to know now that we are listening to them.”

Melville and others are also looking forward to receiving precise comparative statistics on whether injury rates are on the rise at club level. The verdict of the sports scientists will, in turn, dictate how long a summer break players can expect in future. “There’s no point sitting in a room and talking about what the off‑season should be until we’ve got the data,” Melville said. “We’ve got to find out what’s the best way to go. That determines where you start and finish.”

Brown, meanwhile, has backed the England captain, Dylan Hartley, before his latest disciplinary hearing for striking a French opponent in the Champions Cup last weekend, suggesting the outcome would not affect the player’s position. “My personal opinion is that Dylan has been a superb captain for England,” the chief executive said. “I would withhold judgment until we see the outcome of any hearing.”

He also indicated England were targeting another Six Nations title – “A grand slam is hard to achieve but we are not planning to come second” – and said the RFU is “already scanning the horizon” to identify the best replacement for Jones when he steps down in 2019. “We need to have plans A, B and C ready. Eddie also wants to leave a legacy and a system that works. I think we’re probably in a better place than we have been in the past. We need it not to be a distraction going into 2019.”