Out of the bunker at last strode Bill Sweeney, hard hat on and ears ringing. For two months, the embattled chief executive of the Rugby Football Union (RFU) had been a man under fire, the English game in revolt over an ill-judged accepting of a bonus agreed long ago – and much more besides.
Clad in jacket, shirt, jeans and trainers – the casual costume of the contemporary CEO – Sweeney held firm and forthright against the rat-a-tat-tat of the great many questions he had, until now, publicly dodged. Bulletproof Bill, some are calling him, among other rather less pleasant sobriquets – besieged, beleaguered, but brazen, it was time to defend the almost indefensible.
