The England head coach Stuart Lancaster has called for a swift resolution to the ongoing Heineken Cup row, fearing his squad's preparations for the 2015 Rugby World Cup could be affected if the dispute over the future of European rugby's premier club competition drags on.

Lancaster, currently finalising his plans for the autumn international series, wants his players to be exposed to as many high-quality, must-win games as possible in the next two years and is keen that England's World Cup prospects are not compromised in any way. "I certainly hope that we get to a resolution sooner rather than later because it is a difficult time for everyone in terms of planning for the future," said Lancaster, speaking at the launch of England's new Canterbury kit in Leeds yesterday.

"There's no doubt in my mind that we need that next level of competition for the players. It's the closest you get to international rugby and when you are in those pool stages in European competition, you can really only afford to lose one game. That notion of playing in a format where every game matters is slightly different to a league programme of 22 games. It puts a different pressure on the players. I would hope that we can have that competition."

Lancaster also confirmed he will delay announcing his captain for next month's Tests against Australia, Argentina and New Zealand for another fortnight. Northampton's Tom Wood is favourite to retain the role he fulfilled in Argentina in the summer but Lancaster wants to keep his options open in case injury intervenes.

"We have two big European weekends coming up and I've consistently said you must select on form and fitness first. If you name the captain early then you're pretty much ruling out everybody else playing in that position and I want to keep competition for places high," he said.

Lancaster also made it clear he has not ruled out picking his previous captain Chris Robshaw at openside flanker, even if Wood ends up captaining the team. "I would have no problem going into the autumn internationals playing Chris at 7," he added, stressing England needed as many on-field leaders as possible. "It's an outdated model where you have one person who has sole responsibility for everyone. There are two or three who could do it and that's what I want to develop. The captaincy will be an important announcement but the most important thing is to have that strength of leadership across the field."

The England coaches will also wait and see how several individuals perform over the next fortnight before finalising their team to face the Wallabies at Twickenham on 2 November. "The next two weeks are important for all the players," said Lancaster. "Our focus will be on the Australia game and getting that first win. If you get that your confidence grows and it acts as a springboard."