Bill Sweeney, the beleaguered chief executive of the Rugby Football Union, has refused to apologise for taking the controversial bonus that sparked a bitter fall-out across English rugby and reiterated that he wants to stay in his post until 2027.

Sweeney, facing the media for the first time since the bonus revelations, also distanced himself from the hiring of the England head coach Steve Borthwick ahead of the Six Nations starting next week.

On Thursday, Sweeney confirmed that a special general meeting (SGM) of the RFU will take place on March 27 which has been called to request his contract be terminated in the wake of revelations that he was paid a £358,000 bonus for a period in which the union made 27 redundancies.

But while conceding he understands the ill-feeling around the game, a defiant Sweeney would not say sorry for the uproar caused by a long-term incentive plan (LTIP) that saw his salary swell to £1.1 million.

“I don’t think there’s a need to apologise for it,” he said. “I’ll go back to [the fact that] it wasn’t my decision to create an LTIP. I had no involvement in the setting of the quantum and I had no involvement in the determination of the level of the pay-out.

“So no, I don’t think it’s my personal responsibility to apologise for something that’s been put in place in that manner.”

Sweeney reiterated his pride in the RFU’s financial situation and again distanced himself from the resignation of Tom Ilube, the former RFU chairman.

Sweeney also implied that he will not necessarily step down if a vote of member clubs in March urges his departure.

“It’s speculation, it’s hypothetical,” said the 67-year-old of potentially losing his mandate at the SGM. “At this stage I’m not going through all the various scenarios. When the vote comes in, it’s a board decision.”

Despite speculation that Sweeney could step away in the wake of the Women’s World Cup later this year, he is intent on staying longer. The Nations Cup, a project in which he has been heavily involved, is due to start in 2026.

“I saw something about [my departure] being timed at the end of the Women’s World Cup because I was getting a bonus for the performance of the women in the World Cup,” Sweeney said.

“That’s nonsense. I don’t have a bonus related or any payment related to the performance of the Red Roses at the World Cup. But there’s been no conversation whatsoever about standing in until at the end of that competition.

“I haven’t [thought of a time to leave] because I believe we’ve got a lot of powerful initiatives that we’re putting into the game,” he added.

“I’m certainly committed to go through to the end of this cycle, which is the end of 2027, I haven’t thought that post the women’s World Cup would be an ideal time to step down.

“I’m very focused on what we’re doing on the roadshow, opportunities like this to actually talk about the issues in the game and what we’re dealing with and I haven’t planned out a personal exit strategy.”

‘I don’t expect it to be a smooth ride’

Sweeney is also proud of the fact that the RFU has committed £30 million per year to the community game for the next four years, yet expects to face frustration when he travels around the country over the coming weeks to visit clubs and garner support.

“I’m not looking at it as an attempt to save my job,” he insisted of the roadshow. “It is an attempt to talk about the issues that have been raised and talk about the programmes that we are implementing and address some of the misinformation. We are going all over the place.

“I don’t expect it to be a smooth ride. The reason we are doing it is to address the angst that the game feels. If that’s the reason we are doing it, there is going to be some negative reaction.”

Following a “busy” few months, which have included the resignation of Ilube due to what was described as “a purely personal decision”, there was no question that Sweeney’s appetite remains intact.

“The easiest thing to do right now would be to walk away,” he said. “Given the challenges, the easiest option would be to say: ‘I’ve had enough.’ I don’t feel anywhere near that because I still feel, because of my involvement in the programmes I have hit and am hitting now, that I have genuine value to add; whether that’s in the international side with the Nations Cup – we very much led that – whether it’s other things going on in world rugby, whether it’s other things going on domestically.

“I think the moment I look in the mirror and said ‘I don’t think I am adding any value to this,’ then I would quite happily stand down. Why would you continue any further? The biggest satisfaction I get out of this job is I think I am adding value to a sport I love.

“The moment I feel I am not adding value then I would go. That’s not determined by win ratios or other factors, it’s [a question of] ‘are you making a positive difference?’.”

‘It was not my call to hire Borthwick’

Sweeney denied that his own fate might be sealed by a poor Six Nations for Steve Borthwick, stressing that it had not been his call to appoint the England head coach following Eddie Jones’ departure in 2022.

England won five of 12 Tests last year and begin their Six Nations campaign with matches against Ireland, the reigning champions, and France. They have not finished higher than third since winning the championship in 2020.

Sweeney pointed out that Nigel Redman has led succession planning, while an anonymous panel of experts are enlisted to review performances and make onward recommendations.

“That would be the perception, but it wasn’t my personal decision, it wasn’t me saying ‘Eddie’s gone, I want Steve Borthwick’,” Sweeney explained of his accountability for the performance of the England head coach.

“It’s the panel, the experts in rugby come together. They discuss it, they look at options, they go to the succession planning work done by Nigel. They’ll get down to a shortlist and make a recommendation in terms of who they think.

“I can be part of the conversation, but they’ll make a recommendation of who they think should be the next head coach.”

‘I don’t think it was shambolic’

There was also a defence of the continuing turnover of England coaches, which has continued from the Jones era into Borthwick’s tenure with the departures of Aled Walters and Felix Jones.

Walters, the conditioning expert who joined Ireland in the summer following England’s 2-0 series loss to New Zealand, is set for a role on the British and Irish Lions tour of Australia.

Jones, meanwhile, resigned as defence coach, leading to the appointment of Joe El-Abd on a job-share agreement with Oyonnax in the French second division.

“I don’t think it was shambolic,” Sweeney said. “I can give you very good reasons why. You can’t legislate someone’s personal freedom, personal choice in terms of what they want to do. Did we think Aled Walters was going to go? No. Did we think Felix Jones was going to go? No.

“We thought they were going to stay longer. You know the relationship between Aled and Felix have – it goes back to Munster, South Africa, it comes to here. You know the family situations of them. Aled took a personal decision to go to Ireland when Jason Cowman [Walters’ predecessor at the IRFU] resigned. The speculation is that Felix was influenced by that, and chose to leave.

“Those things happen. Then you have to react and find solutions and you have to manage the situation.”