Sweeney also denied speculation that he was planning to ride out the furore in the hope of stepping down in the wake of a successful Women's Rugby World Cup later this year.

The tournament is being hosted in England, has already brought in record ticket sales, and the Red Roses are hot favourites to win the World Cup for the first time since 2014.

"I saw something a while back saying I have some specific bonus linked to a women's World Cup win - that is not the case, that is not true," Sweeney said.

"If I was in a mind to step down, I would have done it now and I wouldn't wait until after a women's World Cup.

"I still have some unfinished business here until the end of 2027. [England men's head coach] Steve Borthwick is a great coach and we have a great squad of men's players as well as women's.

"There is a buzz and a good atmosphere around the place and I would like to see that through."

Sweeney has said that, contrary to criticisms of his time in charge, he is proud of the RFU's finances in the wake of the Covid pandemic.

The chief executive said record losses in the past financial year were down to the four-year cycle around the men's Rugby World Cup, in which tournament years add extra expenses while wiping money-spinning autumn internationals off the fixture list, and a steep rise in utility and business costs.

He also defended his own pay, which was made up of 742,000 and a bonus of 358,000 last year.

Sweeney said that, while he had unsuccessfully explored the possibility of deferring his bonus payment, it was the result of a scheme intended to retain senior leaders through the pandemic and benchmark their performance against specific goals.

"When you are the recipient of something like an LTIP [long-term incentive plan], you don't request it, you don't design it, you don't set the criteria for its payment," he said.

"The payment was against very clear criteria of which 77% were hit, so part of me says that was put in place to deliver something to a level which we delivered.

"I don't feel we need to apologise for that scheme."

Sweeney and other RFU officials are embarking on a tour of grassroots clubs over the next few months to put forward their case before a special general meeting on his future.

Rob Sigley, the founder of the Community Clubs Union, believes it is already too late for Sweeney to win over many in the sport who feel that too much money has been focused on the elite game.

"We have openly called for his head and for him to resign," said Sigley of Sweeney.

"He sits there at the top and is part of these decision-making processes and he's accountable for it."