Kilfoyle is angered by the delay

English rugby chiefs failed to reach agreement on Thursday over whether Rotherham will play in the Zurich Premiership next season.

The voting of the England Rugby Limited Board was split 5-5 after it had considered an independent audit report and will now hold a further meeting to discuss Rotherham's promotion.

The five members of the Rugby Football Union felt the Yorkshire club had met the criteria and should be promoted to the Zurich Premiership for next season.

Graeme Cattermole, Francis Baron, Malcolm Phillips, Chris Spice and Fran Cotton all supported the club's application.

We've passed every criteria necessary and some people are saying that's not good enough Jim Kilfoyle Rotherham chief executive

But five Premier Rugby representatives, Charles Jillings, Howard Thomas, Ed Goodhall, Peter Wheeler and Damian Hopley, said that Rotherham should be promoted subject to further information on their ground-share agreement with Rotherham United, at Millmoor.

Cattermole, chairman of the RFU management board, said he regretted the decision not to promote Rotherham at this time.

"On behalf of the five RFU members on the ERL board and I'm sure the vast majority of the game in England, I am very disappointed that the five voting Premier Rugby representatives on ERL have felt unable to support Rotherham's unconditional entry to the Zurich Premiership today.

"Unlike last year Rotherham, has, in the view of the RFU, clearly met the entry criteria required for the Zurich Premiership.

"The five RFU members of the ERL board voted unanimously for promotion to be granted.

"We have worked closely with Rotherham, visited Millmoor on a number of occasions and everything they had done, as far as we were concerned met the required criteria," he said.

Premier Rugby issued their own statement which said Rotherham would have every opportunity to pass the entry criteria, but this should happen after due diligence and process have been gone through.

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"PRL are very committed to resolving quickly the impasse within England Rugby and reaching a positive outcome and therefore have offered to meet again tomorrow," it said.

The club topped National League One but on Tuesday English rugby chiefs requested more information from them before sanctioning their promotion.

Rotherham Jim Kilfoyle said after the meeting that he was growing tired at the delay.

"We're just absolutely frustrated and exasperated because we've done everything - we've passed every criteria necessary and some people are saying that's not good enough.

"We're just pleased to see the RFU supported us."