Bill Sweeney: What next for English rugby after RFU chief executive survives no-confidence vote?

Despite suggestions before the SGM that it would be just the start, not the end, of the rebellion, Sweeney’s opponents struck a more conciliatory tone when they spoke to the BBC afterwards.

They stressed that forcing the SGM and making the RFU board answerable to the game at large was a victory in itself.

Meanwhile, a second motion, which the board brought forward, to devolve more responsibility to the community game seems to have gone a long way to quelling the uprising.

“We want to work together,” said Paddy McAlpine, chair of Chichester Rugby Club and co-chair of the Whole Game Union (WGU).

“What is really encouraging about tonight is that all those rugby players across the nation from the smallest club up to the Championship now have a voice.

“And we will hold those responsible for the leadership of our game to account. We look forward to all the changes and improvements that they are going to put in place.”

“This was never really about one individual,” added Alistair Bow, chairman of Championship club Nottingham and co-chair of the WGU.

“We felt the game was suffering to the point that we needed to have a look at the top. We went to the game and the vote has been cast.

“But actually we got what we needed. There was no winner and loser from the outset, but what we have done is we have taken our plight to the whole game.

“The game has had an opportunity [to voice concerns] and there were some very interesting questions raised in there tonight.

“And you could see there was a good percentage of people voted for him to go.”