Sweeney told a Digital, Culture, Media and Sport select committee the current owners test was "not sufficient."

But he rejected the suggestion that the RFU had been "asleep on the job" over the crises at Wasps and Worcester.

Sweeney said the owners test that allowed Warriors owners Jason Whittingham and Colin Goldring to take over the Sixways club was not robust enough.

"They went through a fit and proper persons test in 2018 - that involved a series of background checks into their suitability to be owners and formation of business plans," he said.

"They passed, though their performance has not lived up to their ability to pass those tests."

Asked why the RFU had not acted earlier to look into the running of the club, Sweeney said the true scale of the issue at Worcester "wasn't obvious at the time".

Sweeney confirmed to the committee that there were no previous regular discussions at the RFU over the ongoing performances of owners.

"One of the learnings we have taken from this very sorry episode is a binary, once-off, owners and directors test is not sufficient to prevent bad behaviour and bad management," he said.

"Having ongoing, regular conditional reviews of their performance and suitability is necessary."

Knight revealed he would be writing to the Serious Fraud Office and West Mercia Police Complaints Commission to ask them to investigate following Goldring's claim that he had informed the RFU about being banned from working as a solicitor.

Following Wasps and Worcester's relegation from the Premiership, attention has focused on the club's rights to hold on to their allocation of revenue generated from the league - the so called 'P share' - worth about £2.5m per club, and about 10% of each club's income.

The inquiry heard earlier from the head of Worcester Warriors Community Foundation, Carol Hart, who said the club "will probably not survive under any ownership" without it, while Worcester MP Robin Walker said there was a "very strong moral case" for the club to retain their share.

However, when asked by the committee whether the stricken clubs would keep their 'P shares', Premiership Rugby chief executive Simon Massie-Taylor said the shares were "not a perpetual right".

He added: "When you get relegated and fail to come up after a second year, those 'P shares' can be acquired off you, so all clubs as part of their shareholder agreement sign up to pre-emption rights where if a club goes into administration, the 'P shares' can be acquired off them by the other clubs.

Massie-Taylor said Wasps and Worcester "knowingly signed up to this" and that he "didn't think that is a particularly strong message to send to the rest of our clubs that essentially you can go into administration and retain assets while getting rid of liabilities".