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Meet the woman handed one of the biggest jobs in Welsh rugby
A former chief executive of Zurich Insurance Group for Europe, Middle East and Africa has been appointed as the new independent chair of Welsh rugby’s professional rugby board (PRB).
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Amanda Blanc, a senior businesswoman who has also been group chief executive of AXA UK, PPP & Ireland during a distinguished 30-year career, was previously named woman of achievement by Women in the City and twice voted the UK Insurer CEO’s CEO of the year (2013 and 2015), as well as featuring on the 2019 list of Yahoo Finance’s 100 women executives.
Originally from Treherbert in the Rhondda Fawr valley, she automatically joins the Welsh Rugby Union Board (WRU) by virtue of her position as the chair of the PRB, succeeding David Lovett. “A passion for Wales, for Welsh rugby and the communities that the game serves around the country has brought me to this role and I am relishing the challenge ahead,” said Blanc.
“The PRB obviously has a vital and integral role to play, not only in safeguarding the future of our national game, but also ensuring that it thrives at a time of huge potential change and it will be a great pleasure to do all that I can to help facilitate its aims and ambitions.
“I’m looking forward to bringing my corporate board experience to the WRU and PRB. Having been used to the complexities involved in running large organisations I know that this will be invaluable in helping Welsh rugby strive towards achieving greater success.”
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The PRB is a gathering of representatives from each of the five professional entities in Welsh rugby and consists of the four regional chairmen, Alun Jones (Cardiff Blues), David Buttress (Dragons), Rob Davies (Ospreys) and Nigel Short (Scarlets), WRU CEO Martyn Phillips, WRU finance director Steve Phillips and two independent members (one of whom is chair – this position is to be filled by Blanc after approval by WRU board on Thursday – with another independent member to be recruited).
It has operated as a sub-board of the WRU since a modernised governance structure was passed by its members, clubs and districts at its AGM in October 2018 and its stated general approach is to ensure all five entities have equal opportunity for success.
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Its most significant achievement to date has been to establish a new professional rugby agreement (PRA) for the professional game in Wales, which has led to a doubling in direct funding by the WRU from approximately £10million to around £20m per annum, excluding competition income.
"My boy was playing under-11s rugby and we could barely get nine or ten players to come out and play whereas with football they were scratching two sides together." @ShaneWilliams11 talks regional rugby decline with @heagneyl ???https://t.co/opEhls2mH2
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) December 1, 2019
Blanc becomes the third female board member of the WRU, joining Liza Burgess – who became the first woman to be elected to the board at the AGM in October 2019 – and non-executive director Aileen Richards, who has been in place since her appointment in 2015.
“This is a hugely significant appointment for the PRB, but one which will also have a direct and positive impact on the WRU board,” said Richards. “To attract someone of Amanda’s experience shows the high esteem in which Welsh rugby is held around the world and I’m greatly looking forward to working with her in the best interests of our national game in the years ahead.”
https://twitter.com/Amandas_Shoes/status/1208009601729388544
Blanc has wide-ranging experience in the boardroom having chaired many organisations, subsidiaries and committees and sat on various regulated boards across Europe. “Amanda is an important addition to both the WRU Board and the PRB, not least because she comes with a skillset and high level of business experience in the financial sector unrivalled elsewhere,” said WRU chairman Gareth Davies.
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“And to have another female voice in a boardroom which has been a traditionally male environment is a hugely welcome by-product of securing the services of such a high calibre business-woman. Chairing PRB meetings is not an easy task, with five separate entities determined to pull in the same direction and speak with one voice off the pitch, but with necessarily conflicting agendas on it.
“It is widely known that these are changing times for the world game, with talk of new structures and potential new ownership rife and it will be part of Amanda’s challenge to help ensure the PRB and Welsh rugby not only keeps pace but takes its place, rightly, at the forefront of imminent progress.”
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Comments on RugbyPass
It’s not up to Wales to support Georgian Rugby. That’s up to International Rugby and Georgia. I sympathise with Georgia’s decent attempt to create this fixture. But for Wales the proposed match up is just a potential stick to beat them with and a potential big psychological blow that young Welsh team doesn’t need. (I’m Irish BTW.)
2 Go to commentsCale certainly looks great in space, but as you say, he has struggled in contact. At 23 years old, turning 24 this year, he should be close to full physical maturity and yet there exists a considerable gap in the power and physicality required for international rugby. Weight doesn’t automatically equate to power and physicality either. Can he go from a player who’s being physically dominated in Super rugby to physically dominating in international rugby in 1 or 2 years? That’s a big ask but he may end up being a late bloomer.
24 Go to commentsIf rugby wants to remain interesting in the AI era then it will need to work on changing the rules. AI will reduce the tactical advantage of smart game plans, will neutralize primary attacking weapons, and will move rugby from a being a game of inches to a game of millimetres. It will be about sheer athleticism and technique,about avoiding mistakes, and about referees. Many fans will find that boring. The answer is to add creative degrees of freedom to the game. The 50-22 is an example. But we can have fun inventing others, like the right to add more players for X minutes per game, or the equivalent of the 2-point conversion in American football, the ability to call a 12-player scrum, etc. Not saying these are great ideas, but making the point that the more of these alternatives you allow, the less AI will be able to lock down high-probability strategies. This is not because AI does not have the compute power, but because it has more choices and has less data, or less-specific data. That will take time and debate, but big, positive and immediate impact could be in the area of ref/TMO assistance. The technology is easily good enough today to detect forward passes, not-straight lineouts, offside at breakdown/scrum/lineout, obstruction, early/late tackles, and a lot of other things. WR should be ultra aggressive in doing this, as it will really help in an area in which the game is really struggling. In the long run there needs to be substantial creativity applied to the rules. Without that AI (along with all of the pro innovations) will turn rugby into a bash fest.
24 Go to commentsSouth Africa rarely play Ireland and France on these tours. Mostly, England, Scotland and Wales. I wonder why
1 Go to commentsIt was a let’s-see-what-you're-made-of type of a game. The Bulls do look good when the opposition allows them to, but Munster shut them down, and they could not find a way through. Jake should be very worried about their chances in the competition.
2 Go to commentsHats off to Fabian for a very impressive journey to date. Is it as ‘uniquely unlikely’ as Rugby Pass suggests, given Anton Segner’s journey at the Blues?
1 Go to commentsSad that this was not confirmed. When administrators talk about expanding the game they evidently don’t include pathways to the top tier of rugby for teams outside of the old boys club. Rugby deserves better, and certainly Georgia does.
2 Go to commentsLions might take him on if they move on Van Rooyen but I doubt he will want to go back, might consider it a step backwards for himself. Sharks would take him on but if Plumtree goes on to win the challenge cup they will keep him on. Also sharks showing some promising signs recently. Stormers and Bulls are stable and Springboks are already filled up. Quality coach though, interesting to see where he ends up
1 Go to commentsAnd the person responsible for creating a culture of accountability is?
3 Go to commentsMore useless words from Ben Smith -Please get another team to write about. SA really dont need your input, it suck anyway.
264 Go to commentsThis disgraceful episode must result in management and coach team sackings. A new manager with worse results than previous and the coaching staff need to coached. Awful massacre led by donkeys.
1 Go to commentsInteresting article with one glaring mistake. This sentence: “And between the top four nations right now, Ireland, France, South Africa, and New Zealand…” should read: And between the top four nations right now, South Africa, Ireland, New Zealand and France…”. Get it right wistful thinkers, its not that hard.
24 Go to commentsHow did Penny get the gig anyway?
3 Go to commentsNice write up Nick and I would have agreed a week ago. However as you would know Cale & co got absolutely monstered by the Blues back row of Sotutu, Ioane and Papaliti and not all of these 3 are guaranteed a start in the Black jumper. He may need to put some kgs before stepping up, Spring tour? After the week end Joe will be a bit more restless. Will need to pick a mobile tough pack for Wales and hope England does the right thing and bashes the ABs. I like your last paragraph but I would bring Swinton, Hannigan into the 6 role and Bobby V to 8
24 Go to commentsThe Crusaders can still get in to the Play Off’s. The imminent return of outstanding captain Scott Barrett and his All Black team mate Codie Taylor will be a big boost.There are others like Tamaiti Williams too. Two home games coming up. Fellow Crusader fans get there and support these guys. I will be.
2 Go to commentsCant get more Wellington than Proctor.
2 Go to commentsWhy not let the media decide. Like how they choose the head coach. Like most of us we entrust the rugby system to choose. A rugby team includes the coaches. It's collective.
14 Go to commentsHi NIck, I have been very impressed with him and he seems a smart player who can see opportunities which Bobby V _(who must be an international 6_) doesn’t see or have the speed to take advantage of. If he continues to improve and puts on 5kgs then he could be a great 8. He is a bit taller than Keiran Reid at 1.93m and 111 kgs, so his skill set fits his body size and who knows where it will lead. I hope the spate of Achilles tendon issues have been dealt with by the S&C people. It’s been a very long time since Mark Loane and Kefu stood out at 8. The question is will we be able to hold onto him, if he does make it he will be pretty hot property. I disagree with the idea of letting them go to the Northern Hemisphere and then bring them back.
24 Go to commentsBilly Fulton 🤣🤣🤣🤣 garrrmon not even close
14 Go to commentsDoes the AI take into account refs? hahaha Seriously why not have two on field refs to avoid bias?
24 Go to comments