RFU boss Sweeney upbeat over future after year of gloom

LILLE, France : Rugby Football Union (RFU) chief executive Bill Sweeney said English and world rugby was "on the cusp of something quite spectacular" and he remained the right man to lead the biggest and richest union in the sport after year of turmoil.

Last week Championship winners Jersey Reds became the fourth English rugby club to shut down through financial problems and were told on Wednesday that they would get no state support.

That followed the demise of Premiership trio Worcester, Wasps and London Irish.

The RFU also faced a rebellion from within after apologising for its mishandling of new tackle laws for the community game, while on the field England's struggles led to the costly sacking of their Australian coach Eddie Jones.

Sweeney has not spoken to the media for nine months but in a lengthy briefing he addressed the issues and said he understood the frustration.

"I came into this role because I am passionate about this game," he said late on Wednesday from England's World Cup base in France.

"If you look at all the things that have happened over the last 12 months with clubs going into liquidation, the tackle height situation and reports about our financial state, I get all that.

"We have got to go out there and talk to people directly but also through the media in terms of the real state of the game."

"This is a unique moment, an opportunity in time to fix the things that have stopped us winning Six Nations championships on a regular basis," Sweeney added.

"To have more consistently performing England teams we need to fix a number of issues that have been broken for some time. We have won four Six Nations and one World Cup in 20 years. That is not what you would expect from us.

"But I do believe that we are on the