The Welsh Rugby Union are currently at crisis point following explosive claims made by former employees in a BBC investigative programme.
There have been calls for WRU chief executive Steve Phillips to go, with politicians also piling on the pressure and sponsors raising questions.
After a hugely damaging little period, Phillips admitted the WRU have "fallen short" and accepted the union's culture was previously "not where it needed to be".
However, he also insisted he is the man to move Welsh rugby past the scandal and says: "We clearly created a culture between 2017-19 which fell well short of standards where people weren't confident enough approaching us confidently with the concerns they had."
Phillips did not take up his role as full-time chief executive until March 2021, having been appointed interim boss from October 2020. He previously served as Group finance Director for 13 years.
There are also other issues for the WRU to deal with, amid ongoing concerns about players leaving the Welsh game because of financial constraints.
And, of course, the little matter of the Six Nations kicks off when Ireland come to Cardiff a week on Saturday.
So, who are the people in power at this difficult time as powerbrokers hold talks behind the scenes to discuss the best way forward?
These are the senior figures at the helm...
Steve Phillips (WRU chief executive)
The Union’s long-serving finance director stepped up to become interim chief executive officer when Martyn Phillips left the role. In March 2021, he was officially announced in the role as the WRU’s senior paid executive, the man ultimately in charge on a day-to-day basis.
Captained the first XV at Amman United while he also turned out for Imperial College London. Phillips qualified as a chartered accountant in 1989, going on to work as finance director at the Tedcastle UK Group and then TBI.
Having spent ten years at TBI, he took on a job with the Welsh Rugby Union under Roger Lewis in 2007. He was previously on the Dragons board and is currently on the boards of European Professional Club Rugby and Celtic Rugby, as well as the WRU board and Professional Rugby Board (PRB).
Under his watch, the WRU secured a £20m UK Government Coronavirus Large Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CLBILS) emergency loan secured to compensate the four professional sides. However, the fact that the four sides had to pay off the loan within three years was a major point of contention.
It was announced that, two years after the loan had first been announced, the refinancing agreement had been negotiated so that the repayment will now take place over 20 years.
Ieuan Evans (WRU chairman)
The Wales legend, who also played for Llanelli and Bath, won 72 caps for his country and played in seven Lions Tests over the course of three tours. Also captained Wales 28 times between 1991 and 1995 before working extensively in the media following his retirement.
Evans was originally elected as WRU National Council Member by the clubs, winning a three-way vote against two other former Wales stars, Gareth Davies and Nigel Davies. His tenure began after the close of the Annual General Meeting in 2020 and he was then appointed as chairman, the most powerful man on the WRU, in November 2022, replacing Rob Butcher in that role.
Nigel Walker (Performance Director)
The former Olympic athlete, Welsh rugby international and Cardiff RFC wing joined in 2021 from the position of National Director at the English Institute of Sport and has also held a string of high-profile posts in Welsh sport since retiring from the game in the late 90s.
Walker worked for the Welsh Institute of Sport before becoming Head of Sport at BBC Wales for five years, after which he served as Head of Change and Internal Communications for a further five-year period
He has also served as a UK Sport Board member from 2006-10, was Chair of the Major Events Panel and a member of the Audit Committee.
Since taking up a role with the WRU, much of his focus has been on improving the women's game - with the hard work still far from done.
Prior to joining the WRU, Walker was critical of the Union's treatment of the regions, warning of a looming catastrophe that would take a generation to reverse.
Geraint John (Head of Participation)
The former Wales assistant coach came back to Wales in September 2015, being appointed Head of Rugby Performance in 2016 after initially returning as the Group’s Elite Coach Development Manager.
He has since become the Head of Participation. Previously he had spent 10 years working abroad, with Rugby Canada as High Performance Manager and then Sevens Head Coach, before joining the Australian Rugby Union as Program Director of Sevens and Men’s Sevens Head Coach in June 2014.
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WRU board members
In addition to Phillips and Evans, there are 10 other directors who sit on the WRU board, which is made up of elected community club representatives and non-executives.
The board was reduced in number from 20 to 12 as part of modernising reform initiated by former chairman Gareth Davies. It is the most powerful decision-making body within Welsh rugby. Here are the board members.
Anthony Buchanan (vice-chair)
Former Wales and Llanelli prop Buchanan is Evans' deputy as vice-chair. He returned to the WRU as a National Council Member following an election among its member clubs, replacing Liza Burgess who stood down from her position to pursue a different role with the Union.
A veteran of the business world, Buchanan is a retired company director and the current chairman of Llanelli. Buchanan first served as a WRU Board and Council Member from 2014 before standing down in 2019, when he was replaced by Burgess.
Henry Engelhardt
A joint founder of Cardiff-based Admiral, Engelhardt was chief executive from 1991 until 2016, when he stepped away. It was with Admiral that his formal association with Welsh rugby began in 2010, when his company became Wales' shirt sponsors.
The American entrepreneur and businessman is semi-retired but still sits on one of Admiral’s subsidiary company boards in the US. A minority shareholder of the Chicago Cubs baseball team, he is believed to be worth more than £1 billion and has previously been dubbed "the best boss in the world".
Catherine Read
Read is a chartered accountant and works for Royal London Asset Management, one of the UK's leading fund management companies, managing around £148 billion worth of assets.
Originally from Haverfordwest, she has a strong affinity with Welsh rugby, steeped in connections from grassroots through to the international game. She won the Markets Media 2020 European Women in Finance ‘Excellence in Leadership’ Award.
John Manders
Was elected as a National Council Member in July 2020 and was re-elected in September 2021. A former sergeant with South Wales Police, he was capped by Wales at youth level and toured South Africa in 1980.
He played for Cardiff, Newport and Pontypridd.
After retiring from the Police Service, he has continued to work as an assessor, lectures in law at the University of South Wales, is also artistic director at Tickledom Theatrical Productions and a director of learning at Credwch Ltd.
He was elected to the position of Community Game Board chair in November 2022 which saw him also join the WRU Board in place of outgoing chair Rob Butcher.
Dave Young
Young played for Llandaff North and went on to become club secretary. Formerly a selector, vice chairman and competition secretary for the East District Rugby Union.
He is a retired chartered electrical engineer and former design and construction manager for Cardiff Council, joining the Board in 2014.
Chris Morgan
Played rugby for Glyncorrwg, Tonmawr and the Royal Marines, before moving into strength and conditioning coaching where he has worked at Premiership level with Swansea and Aberavon. Also spent three years in the regional set up with the Ospreys.
A former senior non-commissioned officer in the Royal Marines with 18 years’ experience, holding high profile appointments during a distinguished career. Joined the WRU Board in 2014.
Phil Thomas
From Clydach, near Swansea, he is a former Wales Schools U16 international and played youth rugby for Morriston before joining Vardre where he became club secretary, vice chairman and then chairman in 2012.
Works for the City and County of Swansea and was elected to the WRU Board by the District E clubs in 2015.
Chris Jones
A founding member of Newcastle Emlyn, Jones has served as secretary since its formation in 1977 - as well as being a past player, captain and coach. He's also coached the Welsh Schools Intermediate (Under 16) International side and chaired the Intermediate Group and the Schools Council.
Having taught PE for 35 years before his retirement in 2010, he joined the Board in 2018 and is a District Council Member.
Colin Wilks
Having joined the Board in 2019, Wilks has spent nearly 50 years in rugby, firstly as a player, then referee, coach and administrator with Risca. His business background was an experienced manager, working in the mining & metals industry in Manufacturing and Commercial sectors.
He is now retired.
Malcolm Wall
Having replaced Amanda Blanc, Wall's position as chair of the Professional Rugby Board (PRB) means he sits on the Board too.
A former chair of Premiership Rugby side Harlequin F.C., Wall brings over 30 years of high level business experience to the role – including a range of high profile non-executive directorships and several chief executive, chief operating officer or managing director roles, across the media industry.
Wall began his media career at Southern, then Anglia and then Granada Television before taking charge of Meridian Broadcasting as deputy CEO in the early 90s. He went on to lead the multinational media company United Business Media over a four year period before joining Virgin Media in 2006.
He ran Virgin Media’s content business for three years, including Virgin Media Television and was also chairman of UKTV.
The Professional Rugby Board
The Professional Rugby Board is a gathering of representatives from each of the five professional entities in Welsh rugby: the WRU, Scarlets, Ospreys, Cardiff and Dragons. Its members share equal responsibility for the professional game and have the power and authority to make dynamic changes wherever necessary.
The PRB consists of the four regional representatives, Alun Jones (Cardiff Rugby), David Buttress (Dragons), Chris Lawlor (Ospreys) and Simon Muderack (Scarlets), WRU chief Phillips, WRU finance director Tim Moss and two independent members, being Wall as chair and also Marianne Økland.
The PRB meetings are also attended by the WRU’s performance director Walker and the chair of the Rugby Management Board, Jon Daniels.
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