Crunch WRU EGM vote to be held in April

The fate of the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) chair Richard Collier-Keywood will be decided at an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) on Monday, 13 April.

Collier-Keywood faces a vote of no confidence at the gathering that will be held at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium.

Leading figures at one of the WRU’s districts – Central Glamorgan Rugby Union (CGRU) – succeeded in receiving backing to call the meeting.

Clubs will also vote on how the four council members who sit on the WRU board are decided, despite the current members being re-voted on as recently as last autumn.

Those plans have been met with criticism, protests and legal action from both Scarlets and Swansea Council.

CGRU members want to put on hold the WRU’s plans, undertake a review of WRU finances and set up a “rugby steering group” of individuals from across the game and business “to advise on rugby related matters and thus negates the need for expensive consultants”.

Two “special” resolutions around how council members are selected to the 12-strong WRU board require 75% backing from clubs.

However 97% of clubs voted to radically overhaul the governance of that board in March 2023.

A third “ordinary” resolution – requiring just 50% – calls for a vote of no confidence in both Collier-Keywood and Professional Rugby Board (PRB) chair Malcolm Wall.

However, Wall has already left his role after coming to the end of his tenure and has been replaced by independent non-executive member Marianne Okland on an interim basis.

While it would take a remarkable turn of events over the coming months, it is not impossible.

The 12-strong WRU board voted “unanimously” to cut the number of professional teams.

Of the four professional regions, Swansea-based Ospreys are perceived to be the team under greatest threat of being cut.

That is because owners Y11 are now in talks with the WRU to buy Cardiff and only one of the three future clubs is to be based in west Wales.

WRU director of rugby Dave Reddin repeated on Saturday, following Wales’ victory over Italy, the governing body was pushing ahead with its proposals and there was “no plan b”.

But could the rebel clubs – led by the CGRU district within the Ospreys region – stop those proposals?

They want to change the selection process for council members who sit on the WRU board and have new elections within the next 14 days.

This could see all four places taken by district members – and potentially from the same district – rather than the current two district and two national.

If that resolution passed and with the selection of new independent chairs of both the WRU and PRB to be decided, that could potentially change half – six – of the WRU board and, with it, enough influence to scupper any proposals.

Unsurprisingly, the WRU board rejects those recommendations, saying: “It is essential that we press ahead with the decision that we have made which is: