“The Professional Game Agreement between the RFU and PRL [Premiership Rugby] was negotiated over a long period in great detail,” an RFU spokesman said. “Every PRL club signed the agreement. The dates of the training camps for the next three years are clearly listed in the agreement, and there is no suggestion that the training camps would not include game training.”

Under the previous eight-year deal England were allowed to stage a six-day pre-season camp in August but the new deal allows the RFU to stage three two-day camps across the Premiership campaign.

Premiership Rugby declined to respond to the claims by Saracens director of rugby Mark McCall that the organisation needed “to be careful chasing all this money at the expense of the clubs” but had instead pointed the finger of blame at England for the intensity of the training in Brighton.

“This format was not anticipated and we would not expect full training sessions to occur during the two other two-day England camps planned this season,” Premiership Rugby claimed on Thursday night.