- The Welsh Rugby Union’s chaotic handling of new contracts has been criticised
- WRU chief Richard Collier-Keywood admits it is another blow to its reputation
- Ioan Cunningham is likely to be the WRU’s first casualty since the contract saga
Ioan Cunningham looks likely to leave his position as Wales women’s head coach after the Welsh Rugby Union’s chaotic handling of new contracts for its female players was heavily criticised, Mail Sport understands.
Cunningham has been in charge of Wales’ women’s team since 2021 having previously been men’s Wales Under-20 boss and forwards guru with the Scarlets.
WRU sources have insisted Cunningham remains in his role as things stand.
But while Cunningham’s departure hasn’t officially been confirmed, all signs point to him being the first WRU employee to pay the price for what the organisation’s chairman Richard Collier-Keywood last week admitted was another blow to its reputation.
Wales’ women’s players signed fresh terms on professional deals earlier this year.
But it has since emerged that during the re-contracting process, the players were threatened with disciplinary action and being pulled out of tournaments if they did not agree.
Ioan Cunningham (above) looks likely to leave his position as Wales women’s head coach
The head coach (left) is set to become the first WRU employee to pay the price for the WRU’s chaotic handling of new contracts for its female players, which has been heavily criticised
The Daily Telegraph reported the stress left players feeling ‘emotionally unwell’ and the process coincided with a poor run of results on the pitch.
WRU executive director of rugby Nigel Walker led the re-contracting process and is understood to have told the players they had three hours to ink new deals.
If they did not, they would not be allowed to play. Despite Walker laying down that ultimatum, it is understood it is Cunningham who is likely to leave first.
The WRU has undertaken a detailed review of how the negotiation process was carried out and its recommendations will be published in full later this month.
But the WRU hierarchy of chief executive Abi Tierney and Collier-Keywood look set to act by removing Cunningham. Walker’s future is also unclear at this stage after the WRU held a board meeting on Tuesday. Collier-Keywood, Tierney, and independent WRU board members Alison Thorne and Claire Donovan last week denied allegations of sexism over how Wales’ female players were dealt with. There has been no such allegation from the players themselves. Thorne and Donovan have led the review.
Mail Sport’s attempts to contact Cunningham directly were unsuccessful.
Collier-Keywood said of the women’s contractual saga last week: ‘This is not a good day for us, we totally accept that. Undoubtedly, this is reputationally damaging for us.
‘We should have done better and we didn’t, but we have learned our lessons and we will keep trying to improve.
Richard Collier-Keywood (right) admitted the contractual saga was ‘reputationally damaging’
‘There are some sweeping criticisms in the report as well as some strong recommendations of what we need to do differently.
‘It is absolutely clear we do need to apologise and engage with them (the players) over the recommendations.’
The bungled handling of women’s contracts was a severe blow to the new WRU regime of Collier-Keywood and Tierney who were appointed after a series of past sexism and misogyny issues led to the departure of former chief executive Steve Phillips. In the light of that recent history, there has been shock that such a similar situation could have happened again.
Tierney last week announced the WRU is increasing funding of women’s rugby by £6million, to a total of £26m over the next five years.