Welsh Rugby Union chairman Richard Collier-Keywood has vowed to deliver a "joined-up strategy" for the governing body within months after an independent review delivered a damning verdict on its "toxic" culture.
Collier-Keywood, who became the WRU's first ever independent non-executive chair earlier this year is set to head up a new-look body when Abi Tierney joins as CEO early next year.
After the review found the union's culture to be one of unchallenged sexism, misogyny, racism and homophobia, and with the regions struggling for form amid slashed budgets, the 62-year-old's in-tray has been piling up since he took the job in July. But he has reaffirmed his commitment to providing an overarching strategy for the WRU's future, having identified it as a major issue.
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"It's vital Welsh rugby has a joined-up strategy," he said in an interview with the BBC following the WRU's annual general meeting. "That will be by the first half of the next calendar year. When I first came in it was something I identified as a weakness.
"A lot of people told me the WRU does not have strategy. Whether it did or not, if most people think it doesn't, then it probably doesn't. It is not just about creating a strategy, it is about communicating it," he added. "If people don't understand what you are trying to do, it is very difficult to line everything up."
Outlining his desire to foster "cultural change" and provide "a new WRU going forward," Collier-Keywood admitted the union had been "financially pretty precarious" after its reputation was tarnished, with sponsors including Oil 4 Wales at one point pulling out of any future investment in Welsh rugby.
However, he insisted that the WRU would become a positive brand again as he thanked sponsors for sticking with the governing body through "difficult times".
"If you go back to when the report was announced, I was a sponsor at that point I'd have been worried," he said. "You want to associate yourself with positive brands and up to that point the WRU had been seen to be a very positive brand, obviously prior to the allegations.
"Financially we were pretty precarious, if some of the major sponsors had pulled their deals It was very public the issues with the players at that point in time, that got solved but it was a very precarious situation and I wouldn't want to go back there again. My commitment is to create a cultural change and to have a new WRU going forward and I think we'll be able to do that."
Collier-Keywood also outlined why the regions are his "massive priority", before promising fans that there will be a "much better" relationship between clubs and the WRU, with the results set to show over the coming months.
"The regions are a massive priority," he said. "We want there to be four vibrant professional clubs in Wales where people can go along on a weekend and watch an excellent match that has jeopardy and is competitive.
"You have got to ask people to come and watch the matches. Unless we have a vibrant regional game we will not have a vibrant national game. My encouragement to fans is to get out there and support your local clubs.
He added: "It may be a difficult time at the moment but this is a long-term strategy so in two or three years I hope things will have changed. Even in the shorter-term there will be a much better closer working relationship between us and the regional clubs. I think you will see the benefits of that over the next year or so."
