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English rugby bosses were torn limb from limb and accused of 'failure on an epic scale' by a Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) hearing on Thursday.
RFU chief executive Bill Sweeney and his Premiership Rugby counterpart Simon Massie-Taylor were questioned by MPs on the state of the game following the demise of Worcester and Wasps - who both entered administration and were suspended from competition - earlier this season.
DCMS chair Julian Knight MP accused Sweeney of being 'completely asleep on the job' as both Worcester and Wasps struggled and ultimately failed to overcome huge financial problems.
DCMS chair Julian Knight MP reserved special criticism over the Worcester debacle
Knight added to Sweeney: 'Frankly, you have failed in this instance and so has the RFU. Should you not be looking at your position?'
To Massie-Taylor, Knight said: 'I have never come across anything as shambolic with a lack of thought towards people in your own game in my entire time as a select committee member.
'If this happened in the Premier League, the head of the league would resign on the spot. I don't know how you can come to this committee and say what you've said with a straight face.'
Knight's evisceration of both Sweeney and Massie-Taylor saw him question the structure of English rugby from top to bottom.
Wasps struggled and ultimately failed to overcome huge financial problems
His points primarily focused on Worcester, rather than Wasps.
As days go for English rugby's top brass, it couldn't have been more sobering.
There must now be serious and very real calls for change at the highest level at
