Samoan rugby was declared bankrupt by Prime Minister and SRU chairman Tuila'epa Sailele Malielegaoi before the team faced Scotland on Saturday (November 11).

However the game's governing body, still reeling from the World Rugby Council vote to hand the 2023 World Cup to France instead of their favoured South Africa pick, have released a strongly worded statement refuting this claim.

"Recent statements made by the chairman of the SRU questioning World Rugby's funding package are inaccurate," they said.

"World Rugby can clarify that the union is not bankrupt."

Malielegaoi had even asked the public to donate money to keep the sport alive in his country.

There are concerns globally that while the top tier sides - Australia, England, Ireland, France, New Zealand, Scotland, South Africa and Wales - continue to flourish financially, the smaller nations are struggling to make ends meet.

Whilst tier one nations do not have a financial obligation to teams like Samoa, there is an argument they could perhaps hold a moral one.

Host countries are currently under no obligation to split gate receipts although the host country pays for the team's costs while in that country.

Furthermore, World Rugby underwrites players' insurance and has paid all of the Samoa players' flights over to the first point on their current tour - they face England at Twickenham on Saturday (November 25).

World Rugby has invested about £1.5 million ($2million/€1.7million) in Samoan rugby in 2017, and part of the new global calendar agreement post-2019 should see tier one nations touring the Pacific Islands more regularly which will boost revenue as a result.

England's Rugby Football Union (RFU) chief executive Steve Brown confirmed he had been approached by the SRU via a letter asking for funding in October.

However, the Samoan case appears to be clouded by what Brown labelled "a complex dispute" between Samoa and World Rugby with regards to funding.

The full statement from World Rugby reads: "World Rugby continues to be fully committed to assisting the Samoa Rugby Union with its current financial challenges.

"Recent statements made by the chairman of the SRU questioning World Rugby's funding package are inaccurate. 

"While the SRU's failure to implement some jointly agreed high-performance initiatives in 2017 is a concern to World Rugby, it has resulted in a small amount of conditional investment being withheld. 

"World Rugby's support of all tier two unions is both financial and administrative and is delivered on a partnership basis with each union. 

"World Rugby continues to support the SRU's national men's 15s and sevens high-performance programmes with a record £1.5 million in overall investment in 2017, specifically including: directly funding all insurance costs for the national 15s players while on international duty to maintain the highest standards of player welfare; funding a training camp in London to provide valuable preparation ahead of the November tests; funding the travel costs of Samoa players and other countries and funding any flights between test matches and all on-the ground expenses when playing against another tier two country or participating in World Rugby-organised tournaments."

The governing body also rejected suggestions from Malielegaoi that it interfered with the appointment of Samoa's head coach.

World Rugby says the SRU instead failed to accept the recommendation of an independent selection panel, which led to the withdrawal of funding for the position.

"World Rugby would also like to clarify the inaccurate statements made by the SRU chairman relating to the selection of the national men's 15s team coach," their statement continued.

"World Rugby did not interfere with the recruitment and selection process. 

"A clear and transparent process was agreed by all parties. 

"However, the union did not wish to accept the recommendation of the independently chaired selection panel, which included SRU representatives. 

"The SRU board decided to make its own appointment. 

"Therefore, World Rugby withdrew the funding allocated to this position but continues to honour its funding commitments for 2017 in line with the high-performance funding agreement. 

"World Rugby's support extends further than just financial commitments. 

"It is working in partnership with Pacific Rugby Players (the official IRPA-affiliated body representing Pacific Island players) to implement personal development, player welfare and other important initiatives to support Pacific Island players all over the world. 

"World Rugby remains committed to supporting all Pacific Island unions in achieving their potential on and off the field and applauds the excellent progress made by the Fiji Rugby Union since implementing key governance and administrative reforms which are delivering significant positive results for the union."