'You'd have to drag me away' - Moore hints WRU stay

BBC News

5 days ago

The head of women's rugby in Wales has hinted she may continue in the role beyond this summer's Rugby World Cup.Belinda Moore, the former chief executive of Premiership Women's Rugby (PWR), was a high profile appointment by the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) in January.She was was tasked with helping to transform the game from pathways to professionalism, while improving the culture. The interim role is due to end in September with Moore responsible for finding her successor but speaking at Wednesday's World Cup kit launch she said: "At the minute, you'd have to drag me away."She added: "I've absolutely loved working with the squad. Let's see where we stand after the World Cup. Never say never."
At the same time as the World Cup, the women's domestic game will be part of the consultation between the WRU and the Professional Rugby Board (PRB), which could see the number of regions cut by one or two by the 2027-28 season."It's a really positive step for the women's game," said Moore."We had already started that process of trying to professionalise the women's teams."All four [regions] expressed an interest, which was brilliant. It shows the appetite is there to support the women's game."
Cost effective tour down under
Wales are due to fly to Australia this weekend ahead of a two-Test tour against the Wallaroos in Brisbane and Sydney.Eyebrows were raised over both the expense and timing of a demanding tour so close to the crucial opening World Cup game against Scotland on 23 August.But Moore explained it is part of a reciprocal arrangement after Australia toured Wales ahead of WXV2 last year."They [Australia] are picking up a lot of the costs when we're on the ground and we've got support from World Rugby as well," she said."Although it's a long way to go, it's actually a cost-effective solution and gives us a chance to play some really good opposition, which is important."In terms of recovery, we're back here very early on in August, which gives us three weeks before the tournament starts and longer than the southern hemisphere teams have when they come over here."People will still reckon New Zealand will be competitive, so I think we'll be good."
Despite losing his first five games to finish bottom of the Six Nations, Moore has backed head coach Sean Lynn to succeed in Australia."It's been his first chance to put his stamp on the camp and it will be really interesting to see how we measure up against a team above us in the standings," said Moore."Then there's that big match against Scotland as our kick-off game in the World Cup."There's a lot riding on that but we had a close Six Nations match against them so I remain ever optimistic."Can we win this World Cup? That's probably a step too far. Can we do well and make a really good account of ourselves? 100%."
The red wall - from Switzerland to Salford
Moore is hopeful Wales can harness the same fan enthusiasm the Wales women's football team experienced while competing at their first major tournament at Euro 2025 in Switzerland."That support from the fans, the feeling that the whole country is backing them is really important," Moore said."It's a huge summer of sport for women's sport and that continues to evolve the journey that we're all on with women's sport, to commercialise it and to make it as successful as we possibly can."We've been really lucky where the games have been situated (Salford and Exeter) for our group stage and that makes it accessible for our fans either from north Wales or south Wales."