The Rugby Football Union has been accused of "selling its soul” to Premiership Rugby and "ring-fencing" the top flight after the governing body opted to slash its £6.4 million funding to Championship clubs by almost half next season. It comes as Premiership Rugby also confirmed it would be reducing its funding by half to the second tier of English club rugby, down from £1.7m to £850,000 next season, and will end it completely from the start of the 2021/22 season. The Championship clubs, who each received a letter on Tuesday morning detailing the cuts, were called to what was said to have been a highly-charged meeting at Twickenham. RFU chief executive Bill Sweeney and director of performance Conor O’Shea explained to the clubs that they will reduce the funding from £530,000 to £288,000 per club as part of a new 12-month deal starting in July. It will be reviewed again in six months....