The International Rugby Board and several leading national rugby unions have been rocked by a series of major scandals after the infamous WikiLeaks website released thousands of documents that were never meant to be publically viewed.
The fallout from the publication of hundreds of embarrassing emails, letters, notes and minutes belonging to the IRB and governing bodies, such as the Rugby Football Union (RFU), the South African Rugby Union (SARU) and French Rugby Federation (FFR), could lead to years of
frosty international rugby diplomacy as nations come to terms with often blunt comments or accusations from rivals and supposed allies.
WikiLeaks have stood by the publication of all the documents claiming that the rugby world and its operations should be 'transparent and open'.
One rugby insider has claimed that some aggrieved unions have already made threats to withdraw from major tournaments such as the Six Nations or even the Rugby World Cup as a result of the WikiLeaks scandals.
Among the most damaging revelations is a top secret dossier from the IRB complaining that the 2011 World Cup should never have been awarded to New Zealand as the country 'wouldn't know a decent bloody draught beer if it came in from the wrong side of a ruck and trampled all over them'.
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