Rugby Australia (RA) chief executive Phil Waugh has revealed $2.6 million in unapproved expenses were invested in Eddie Jones's disastrous 2023 World Cup campaign.

While declining to single out Jones for blame, Waugh said the spending was "unacceptable" and would not happen again.

"The over-investment that was unapproved was $2.6 million, which covered three main elements … team costs, staff travel and then player benefits," said Waugh, who added RA only found out the extent of the excess spending "retrospectively".

"So, a lot of that came through post-World Cup … you want to set the team up for success.

"The reality is that 86 per cent of our revenue comes through the men's XVs program for Rugby Australia, and a successful World Cup program is critical to that.

"And I guess there was lenience given in the hope that we would succeed at the World Cup and make it deep into the tournament.

"Clearly that didn't happen, but the circumstances were quite unique.''

Asked how the spending could reach such a vast sum, Waugh said: "Delegation of authority is important and clearly there were breaches in that area and we've made personnel changes on the back of some of those breaches.

"That over-investment, that's not acceptable and it won't happen going forward."

The revelation came as Waugh also reported broken trust as being among the strongest feedback coming from players who participated in RA's external review into the Wallabies' ill-fated World Cup tilt.

The review was conducted in the wake of the Wallabies' group-stage exit at the World Cup in France, which was the first time they had failed to make at least the quarterfinals at the tournament.

After quitting just 10 months into his five-year deal, Jones has since signed on as Japan's national coach, despite denying he was interviewed for the Brave Blossoms while in charge of the Wallabies.

"The lack of trust certainly comes through and we talk through elements of culture as well as governance there," Waugh said.

"The actual specifics of Eddie and the linkages to Japan, not so much.

"But I think that's the broader lack of trust across the system."

More transparency around player selections was one of 23 recommendations made to RA following the external review.

RA released the findings of the review on Thursday from a four-person panel comprising former internationals Andrew Slack and Justin Harrison, industry expert Darlene Harrison and Pasifika adviser Moana Leilua.

An overhaul of the high-performance unit — which has already been done with the appointments of Peter Horne as director, David Nucifora as an adviser and Joe Schmidt as Jones's replacement as Wallabies head coach — was one of the key recommendations.

The need for greater alignment between Australia's five Super Rugby franchises was also highlighted in the review.

AAP