Efforts to clear up the financial and administrative mess into which English rugby has fallen have formally begun with Premiership Rugby confirming the launch of a new sporting commission, including the former England and Northampton captain Tom Wood, to help improve the long-term prosperity of the league.
Wood is among four independent figures from the world of sport and business on a seven-person panel chaired by Nigel Melville. The football executive Jane Purdon, the Ministry of Justice board member Mark Rawlinson and the financial services expert Carys Williams have all been appointed, with the Premiership Rugby chief executive, Simon Massie-Taylor, and its rugby director, Phil Winstanley, completing the list.
