Wales coach Warren Gatland is adamant that his side didn't break any rules in terms of using back-up players at a training session during the week and that a suggestion that they contravened the spirit of the law is not something he recognises.

The New Zealander smiled his way through a series of questions about a statement released by World Rugby in which they affirmed that Wales had been issued with an official warning in relation to a breach of the RWC participation agreement.

Gatland quoted the relevant section of the agreement (6.6.8) and said that Wales had not broken any rules. “We haven’t broken any rules. We have broken the spirit of the rules. I don’t know what that means.

“You either have rules or you haven’t got rules; what is the spirit (of the rules?) What does it mean? We didn’t try and do anything out of hand or try to do anything sneaky. It was an open training session.

A spokesperson for World Rugby said: “It’s clear that teams know their obligations and under the terms of the participation of RWC having opposed training is fine but you have to do that utilising players not involved in your wider squad.

"The Wales team has been issued with an official warning following an apparent breach of the spirit of the Rugby World Cup 2015 Terms of Participation regarding team training arrangements and specifically the inclusion of players from outside the selected 31-player squad for a training session yesterday," read a statement from World Rugby.

“Having reviewed the matter, World Rugby is satisfied that no deliberate breach was intended, and in addition to the formal warning to the Welsh team, all participating teams have been informed that additional players from the extended national team squad, including potential injury replacements, may not participate in any training sessions.”