WRU faces new sexism allegations over Wales deals

The Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) is facing fresh allegations of sexism and inequality, less than a year after a damning independent review into its culture.

They centre on drawn-out contract negotiations involving the women’s senior side.

The Telegraph has reported, external players were threatened with consequences if they did not agree to the Union’s terms, including being withdrawn from major tournaments.

The WRU refute some of the claims against them, including denying chief executive officer Abi Teirney did not want to pay travel expenses.

The governing body has also said it has initiated an independent review of the process and will publish the recommendations.

The first ever professional contracts were signed by the women’s team at the start of 2022, with Wales making huge strides on the pitch, finishing third in the 2022 and 2023 Women’s Six Nations.

But coinciding with the contract talks, 2024 has seen a significant slump in form, with Wales finishing bottom in the championship.

Players brought in the Women’s Rugby Association (WRA) in January to represent them, with issues including pay and a performance-based maternity policy among their requests.

The WRA confirmed the Telegraph’s revelations.

The Telegraph alleges players were warned in August that they would forfeit their places at WXV2 in South Africa and next year’s Rugby World Cup if they did not sign, and followed it up with a three-hour deadline.

Wales captain Hannah Jones confirmed in September that the situation had been resolved, saying they were "happy with their contracts".

Later that month, ahead of their WXV2 opener against Australia, the WRU announced it had awarded 37 full-time deals, proudly saying Wales were "one of the best paid international women’s teams in the world game".

Welsh rugby's governing body claim Tierney engaged regularly with the WRA and are insistent the CEO approved the payment of travelling reserves once involved in the negotiating process.

Tierney said the governing body's board was made aware in August by the players that they had concerns with the contract negotiation process.

"The WRU welcomed this approach, and the WRU chair [Richard Collier-Keywood] immediately initiated two work streams," she said.

"One was completion of the negotiations with a core team the second was a board-led review of the whole contract process.

"It isn’t appropriate to discuss the detail of confidential negotiations, but the WRU will publish the results and recommendations of the review [once] it has [been] undertaken very shortly."

A joint statement issued by the WRA said: "Having represented the Wales Women’s team this year, we have been blown away by their bravery, determination and unwavering commitment to collectively improving not only their own working conditions, but those of the future generations of players in Wales.

"We are proud to have been able to support this group of women through such a challenging time and look forward to seeing what they continue achieve in such an exciting year for women’s rugby.

"The WRA feels it is a significant step for the WRU to initiate the review of this process, and look forward to seeing the results in due course."