• 141 members demand SGM and no-confidence vote
• Rebellion follows outcry over top pay and redundancies

A grassroots rebellion has accused the Rugby Football Union of ­“postponing the inevitable” after the governing body rejected an attempt to force the removal of the chief executive, Bill Sweeney, amid the pay and bonuses scandal.

On another remarkable day at the RFU, a group of 141 members from across the country called for a ­special general meeting and a vote of no confidence in Sweeney, only for the union to declare the motion invalid on bureaucratic grounds.