Sir Bill Beaumont has called on RFU members to unite and reject a vote of no confidence in the chief executive, Bill Sweeney, at a special general meeting to be held at Twickenham on Thursday.
In a strongly worded statement, the interim RFU chair called on the clubs to end “months of rancour” by backing Sweeney, although his words appear to have fallen on closed ears as representatives of the Whole Game Union (WGU), who are leading the calls for change, immediately hit back with criticism of the RFU’s “intransigence”.
