Rugby Australia has escalated the growing legal dispute with directors of former Super Rugby team Melbourne Rebels, alleging misleading and deceptive conduct by the club and preparing a counter-claim after a $30m lawsuit was lodged by the directors on Wednesday.

The Rebels were placed into voluntary administration in January, and Rugby Australia took control of the club. The governing body decided against reinstating Melbourne’s Super Rugby licence in May, triggering a legal to-and-fro which has exploded this week.

A statement issued by RA on Thursday said the organisation was “disappointed” by the “inaccurate and misleading comments in the media” and rejected the “ambit claims and attempts to shift blame for their financial mismanagement”.

“RA is preparing a counter-claim against [Melbourne Rebels] and its directors for misleading and deceptive conduct concerning the financial position of [the club] dating back to 2018,” the statement said.

The Rebels directors had argued in a statement of claim lodged on Wednesday in the Federal Court that RA had knowledge of the club’s financial position for several years, and had not acted in accordance with the legal agreements between the parties.

RA’s response issued on Thursday said it had relied on the alleged misleading and deceptive conduct in allowing the club to be part of Super Rugby.

“Had RA not been misled or deceived, it would not have provided [the Rebels] with a participation licence and thus not lost in excess of $35 million that was paid to [the club] since at least 1 July 2018,” the statement said.

RA also cited the administrator’s findings of financial problems going back to 2018, and the revenue challenges faced by the club.

The directors issued a response on Thursday afternoon to RA’s statement, alleging the governing body has made “completely false and self-serving counter-claims about the Rebels”.

“We believe this to be a desperate attempt to deflect attention from the reality of the situation that the RA executive and board have put the sport into,” the directors’ statement said.

“We want an independent person to decide whether the conduct of Rugby Australia meets the standards required by law – and that will now be a Federal Court Judge.’’

RA said it “will continue to do what is in the best interests of the game nationally and remains focussed on protecting and promoting rugby across Australia”.