RUGBY FOOTBALL UNION chief executive Bill Sweeney has survived a vote of no confidence in his leadership to signal a ceasefire in the civil war that had broken out in the game.

However, the rebel clubs calling for Sweeney’s contract to be terminated by the board at a special general meeting on Thursday warned that promised governance and structural reforms must be completed to avoid a further outbreak of conflict.

A community game uprising ignited by the bonus and pay scandal that has gripped Twickenham gathered enough support to trigger the RFU’s first SGM for 20 years and tabled the motion calling for Sweeney to be dismissed as soon as possible.