Jeremy Guscott says the row over Lions payments is further undermining England's bid to retain the World Cup. The former centre believes England's hopes of defending their title are already slim but says the current conflict is only making things worse.
"It will take an absolute miracle for England to win the World Cup and this row does not help," he told BBC Sport.
Guscott says the only way to avoid future disagreements is to introduce central contracts for England players.
England's leading clubs and the Rugby Football Union are at loggerheads in the wake of the Lions tour to New Zealand this summer.
The RFU has withheld payments totalling �120,000 from three clubs who fielded eight Lions players before an 11-week rest period it claims was agreed with the clubs.
 |  The annoying aspect of this row is that you kind of expect it |
The row has placed the club-versus-country relationship under further strain with England's autumn international programme taking place in just two months.
"Nothing surprises me with what goes on with the RFU and the clubs," added Guscott, who believes the sport is becoming more obsessed with money than player welfare.
"The union's punishment is a financial one and to me that is childish and petty.
"Common sense should prevail but we know neither party seems to have it. The annoying aspect of this row is that you kind of expect it."
 Martin Corry is one of the Lions players at the centre of the storm |
The row will not help England coach Andy Robinson, who is under pressure to reverse a poor run of form since that World Cup win.
And Guscott believes the introduction of central contracts, as seen with southern hemisphere countries as well as the England cricket team, will prevent these kind of rows.
"If the RFU had the players we would not be having this row," he said. "The players should be centrally contracted.
"The RFU, off the back of the euphoria of the World Cup, should have made huge strides to centrally contract an England squad.
"It is not too late. The next move should be that the clubs and the union come to some agreement about how they start centrally contracting these players and then all these problems would be resolved."
However, the idea of central contracts does not look like gaining in popularity with the clubs.
"Sale's view of central contracts is that they won't work - they're not appropriate for rugby union in this country," Sale chief executive Niels de Vos told BBC Radio Five Live.
"If central contracts mean taking the cream of England players - 30, 40, 50 or even 60 - away from the regular week-to-week high-level intensity competition, we believe they will suffer as international players.
"Australia, for example, who made a very big deal of their central contracts, had great success with it.
"But now that first phase of players that were centrally contracted are coming to the end of their careers, there isn't a new generation of players coming to replace them.
"Those very new players, who have been within a national system, haven't been exposed to the very highest level of rugby within the Super 12."
MMIX
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