Howard Thomas, Chief Executive of English Rugby Partnerships, launched a vociferous defence of the policing of the £1.8 million salary cap imposed on Zurich Premiership clubs this season.

He was speaking at the launch of the new Premiership in Twickenham on Thursday morning and after Dick Best, London Irish's director of rugby claimed some clubs were flouting the cap.

He said he knew what the top players were demanding in wages because he had been offered them and that many clubs must be either cheating or paying some players nothing to remain within the restriction.

But Thomas said any such claims were speculative because the policing procedure, which he said funded by the clubs themselves to the tune of £75,000 but which would be independent had not been carried out yet.

And he warned any club breaking the £1.8 million that is faced huge penalties including substantial fines or, in the most blatant case, expulsion from all European competitions.

"There has been some sceptical comment, I don't think it helps but at the end of the day we have to get our industry viable and we are totally committed to that. The policing efforts are taking place so any claims that any clubs are breaching the salary cap is speculative," he said.

He assured the procedure would be transparent although he said club accounts would not be disclosed.

"I cannot understand why we would invest a significant amount of money into a policing procedure and then whitewash it.

"The work will be carried out in extreme confidence and a report will be made available to the board to make any decisions and I do stress I hope that no breaches exist."

With the season just days away the agreement between ERP and the RFU which will ensure each of the 12 Premeirship clubs receive £1.8 million has yet to be finalised.

Neither Thomas nor Francis Baron, the chief executive of the RFU, could say when that agreement will be reached, although a meeting was arranged for after the Zurich launch.

The main sticking point continues to be the issue of promotion and relegation to and from the Premiership but after five years of professionalism and after the RFU accepted the Rob Andrew proposals for the new league the two sides seem to be coming closer together each year.

The frustration for clubs this season is that they are spending money in the off-season they have not got yet, already two months worth of RFU payments totalling £300,000 have not been paid.

Baron said: "As soon as the agreement is signed the money is available, it is in the bank and it will be paid. We are at a very advanced stage of our negotiations with premier clubs.

"It has been agreed by both the premier clubs and the RFU that there will be access from National One to Premier Rugby, we are dealing with the fine print of what all that means. We hope to make an announcement in the not too distant future."

Mark Evans, Chief Executive of NEC Harlequins, said although there were still issues that needed to be sorted out between the clubs and the RFU the game was still growing.

"Imagine what we would have done without those barriers. There is a lot of political dispute between the union and the clubs. There were reasons, and there are reasons and there are genuine grievances on both sides but in fact the game has grown despite of that," he said.