Andy Baldock, Auckland
WELSH rugby chief Roger Lewis believes “a culture of long-term thinking” has helped underpin the national team’s remarkable World Cup success story.
Wales will reach their first World Cup final if they beat Six Nations rivals France at Eden Park tomorrow. By this stage of the last World Cup, the Wales squad had already been home for a fortnight after crashing out to their pool stage conquerors Fiji in Nantes.
But now they stand one win away from contesting rugby union’s biggest prize - the Webb Ellis Trophy – against hosts New Zealand or two-time winners Australia.
But whatever happens over the next nine days, Welsh Rugby Union group chief executive Lewis has no doubt the future is rosy.
“What we have put in place is a culture of long-term thinking and planning. Our coach (Warren Gatland) is signed until 2015, our players are signed until July 2016,” Lewis says. “I can confidently tell you we will be in good financial shape next year, and the year after and the year after. The (union) debt is down to an all-time low.
“We have increased investment in the game by some 30% over the last five years, we have increased our revenues by about 27%. It is all of that disciplined, methodical, long-term planning, but also seizing the moment when it happens.”
Welshman Lewis arrived at the WRU almost five years ago following a highly-successful business career that had included him heading up Radio One, Classic FM and record production company EMI.
The WRU had been fraught with tales of poor performance and weak leadership at various times over many years before Lewis set to work.
“The first thing we did was to ensure we had a business that was robust and that could invest in the game,” he added.
“Our first area to invest heavily in, let’s say from five years ago, was the national team. That was our priority. We wanted to make sure they had the very best we could afford.
“Two things came through. The emotion and the passion is off the Richter scale, and the way people relate to rugby in Wales at so many levels is so full-on. It was breathtaking. Also at times, the total lack of rationality that applies to sport in general does come as a huge flame. Uncertainty is part of the DNA of sport. On the day, who knows what can happen?
“The Welsh Rugby Union was in a position which was ripe for fundamental root and branch change. The whole executive board is virtually brand new and the rugby coaching team is virtually a completely different set-up to what it was five years ago.
“At times, we’ve had to make some really brutal and tough changes. We’ve unfortunately had to move senior executives out, as well as there being some high-profile coaching issues.
“There are three parts to the business – elite rugby, grass-roots rugby and the Millennium Stadium.
“We had to invest in elite rugby. We had to get that machine right, because a winning Wales filling the Millennium Stadium drives the machine. That is what captures the hearts of the Welsh public.”
Gatland achieved a Six Nations title and Grand Slam during his first season at the helm – 2008 – but Wales are now in a position to move to a new level, helped considerably by their exciting young generation of talent.
At 23, Wales skipper Sam Warburton is the youngest captain in Rugby World Cup history, while eight of the matchday group against France are Warburton’s age or younger.
“The environment has been planned and prepared meticulously, and now we see this new generation of players,” Lewis added.
“This is generation X, it really is. There is no baggage. You look at George North, at 19, Sam Warburton, Dan Lydiate, Toby Faletau, they’ve come in as professional sportsmen.
“We invested hugely in our National Centre of Excellence. That is our laboratory – it is our research and development centre.
“We have joined up the national team with age-grade rugby, our national academy, so we get this great sense of aspiration. Not long ago, Leigh Halfpenny was playing (Wales) Under-20s and Sam Warburton was captain of the Under-20s.”
One of Lewis’ key roles post-World Cup will be to continue and enhance work with the grass-roots game in Wales, community rugby that is the lifeblood of a country’s national sport.
“We invested more in grass-roots rugby last year than at any other time,” Lewis added. “It must now get priority moving forward.
“One of the messages this World Cup and this group of players sends to grass-roots is about participation.
“One of the big things I will be working on in the next couple of months is on the people who have been so excited by this team to encourage them to put on their boots, pick up a ball and have some fun on the field at a weekend.
“What we’ve got to do now is make sure our rugby clubs are welcoming, that there is the support in the clubs to help develop our eight, nine, 10, 11 and 12 year-olds, and ensure we invest more in our grass-roots coaches and facilities.
“Last year, we did a one-off grass-roots investment for equipment of £1 million, things like tackle bags and training gear. We have got to make sure we don’t lose sight of that strategy.
“Rugby is always talked about as the national sport of Wales, and I think what this World Cup will do is clearly reaffirm that position.”
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Source: http://feeds.examiner.ie/~r/iesportsblog/~3/eIuyqEtRjU4/post.aspx
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