Nigel Walker steps down as Wales Women prepared to file grievance

Nigel Walker resigned from his role as executive director of rugby at the Welsh Rugby Union as the Wales women’s team prepared to file a grievance complaint against him.

Walker was under mounting pressure to leave his post for the part he played in botched contract negotiations with the team, which escalated over the summer.

The 61-year-old told players if they did not sign contracts put in front of them last August, the WRU would forfeit the team’s place at next year’s World Cup in England.

The bombshell revelation, published as part of a wider Telegraph Sport investigation into the treatment of Wales’ women’s team, forced the WRU to issue a grovelling apology last month.

In a statement released on Friday afternoon, Walker cited the performances of Wales men’s team – winless under Warren Gatland this calendar year – and the women’s team, who finished bottom of this year’s Women’s Six Nations, as the main reason for tendering his resignation.

But it can now be revealed that the Wales women’s team filed a formal complaint against Walker on Friday through the WRU, the same day that the organisation confirmed his exit.

In a letter sent to the union, players expressed their anger that Walker had remained in his role while Ioan Cuningham, the former head coach of the women’s team, had vacated his post after the revelations came to light.

It is understood that players were particularly concerned about Walker having a say in the next head coach of the women’s team.

A WRU spokesperson said: “A letter was received by the People team at 4.30pm yesterday. It is unconnected to the decision Nigel Walker took to step down from his role and was received after he made this decision. The letter repeats and does not add to complaints which have been taken extremely seriously and which have already been investigated thoroughly by a recent review. The results and recommendations of this review are due to be published soon.”

Huw Bevan, the interim performance director, and community director, Geraint John, will assume Walker’s executive duties in the short-term before a new director of rugby will be named in the new year.

The WRU had intended to publish a review of the contracting process at the end of November, but players are understood to be deeply unhappy with how parts of it had been redacted. It is yet to be made public.

The entire contracting process left many players feeling “emotionally unwell” and some were even allegedly victims of bullying tactics used by members of the women’s coaching team and senior management, including him.

Walker becomes the second high-profile casualty to leave the organisation as a result of the contracting saga. Ioan Cunningham, the former head coach of the women’s team, left his role after the revelations were made public by Telegraph Sport last month.

The WRU apologised for the way it handled the convoluted and messy negotiations. The body had intended to publish a review at the end of November, but that has been delayed.

Walker joined the WRU in 2021 as performance director and oversaw the introduction of the union’s first central contracts for the women’s team that year. He is, however, understood to have become deeply disliked by players for issuing the threat to pull the team from next year’s women’s rugby showpiece in England.

When asked last month whether Walker’s position was untenable, Abi Tierney, the WRU chief executive, said: “Nigel acknowledges that we needed to have done things better.”

Walker said of his departure: “This decision has not been made lightly as I have cherished my time at the Welsh Rugby Union immensely, but it’s time for a new leader for the performance department.

“My tenure has not been without its challenges and we have achieved a great amount but, ultimately, it is right that I am judged on performances on the pitch and both of our senior teams have found the last 12 months extremely difficult and therefore I believe now is the right time for me to step down.

“These are fast moving times, we have launched a new headline strategy for Welsh rugby which is inextricably linked to a new Professional Rugby Agreement to be signed imminently between the WRU and our four regional clubs.

“We are changing the management structure in our high performance team with respect to our senior Wales Women squad, with a new head coach to be appointed soon. In the senior men’s game there is much scrutiny of the role of our high performance department and how its systems and structures can best enable success for all of our professional teams.”

Meanwhile, Warren Gatland will continue as Wales head coach for the 2025 Six Nations even after Tierney said his position had been “on the line”.

New Zealander Gatland, 61, has overseen Wales’ record 12 successive Test match defeats, ending with autumn losses against Fiji, Australia and South Africa.

Tierney presented the review’s findings to a WRU board meeting this week.

While Gatland remains in post, the New Zealander has been warned there will be a further review of performances after the tournament.

“I have had a number of honest conversations with Warren and I will make no secret of the fact his position was on the line as we undertook our review,” said Tierney.

“Further than that, like any head coach in any sport, he knows the security of his position is directly related to the performances of the team and this is a situation that will continue to intensify.

“There is a tough challenge ahead but Warren is more than up for that challenge. We also believe he is equal to it.”