Gatland: We didn't break any rules

London — Wales coach Warren Gatland questioned what rule he broke after he was warned by World Rugby on Thursday for using players from his wider national squad at a Rugby World Cup practice.

Wales, enduring a miserable run of injuries, brought in at least eight players from the principality for training at its London base on Wednesday, in preparation for the game against England at Twickenham on Saturday.

That breached "the spirit" of the team participation rules, though not deliberately, World Rugby said in a statement.

Gatland said he'd been through the rules, and "we haven't broken any."

"According to World Rugby, we've broken the spirit of the rules, so what that means I don't know. It's either in the rules or not.

"We didn't do anything we thought was out of hand. We brought in some players for defense work. If we we're going to try and break the rules, we would have sneaked players in, not at an open training session. I think people have been misinformed."

Rugby's governing body reminded all teams that players involved in tournament preparations, and potential injury replacements, were not allowed to take part in the official team's practices.