{"id":46904,"date":"2026-09-09T04:33:53","date_gmt":"2026-09-09T04:33:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/almost-non-existent-shane-williams-on-wru-schools-support\/"},"modified":"2026-09-09T04:33:56","modified_gmt":"2026-09-09T04:33:56","slug":"almost-non-existent-shane-williams-on-wru-schools-support","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/almost-non-existent-shane-williams-on-wru-schools-support\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;Almost non-existent&#8217; &#8211; Shane Williams on WRU schools support"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Last month, former Wales captain Jonathan Davies <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/sport\/rugby-union\/articles\/c330yrpdlz0o\" class=\"ssrcss-1fqyhkk-InlineLink e1kn3p7n0\">called for the WRU board to step down.<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Businesswoman Hayley Parsons had already called for them to stand down before Davies did the same, while former Principality Building Society chief operating officer Rob Regan has offered to oversee an interim board.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">In a statement, the WRU board did not directly address the calls for its members to resign but stated <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/sport\/rugby-union\/articles\/cq891l3g3keo\" class=\"ssrcss-1fqyhkk-InlineLink e1kn3p7n0\">&#8220;the kinds of personal insults and attacks that have become far too commonplace are unacceptable&#8221;.<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">The board also doubled down on its commitment to cut the number of professional teams from four to three by 2028, with WRU-owned Cardiff and privately-backed Dragons set to be given licences.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">That announcement has plunged the futures of Scarlets and Ospreys into doubt, with the west licence either being awarded to the Llanelli-based side or their Swansea-based rivals.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Asked whether he still had faith in those running the game in Wales, Williams, who coaches in west Wales, said: &#8220;No, I don&#8217;t have much faith, to be honest with you.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;I think we&#8217;re still none the wiser.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;I think they just took a little break in deciding what was going to happen, but knowing deep down in their hearts that they wanted it to be three regions.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;We as coaches know the uncertainty of who&#8217;s going to remain as a region next year and that is very difficult.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;But what we are trying to do and what we do need is a bit more support in the pathway side of the rugby.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;We talk about the regions, we talk about the national team, but where do they think these players come from?<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;I can answer that for you straight away. That is schools and colleges.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">In its response the WRU stated: &#8220;The schools game in Wales is an integral part of our future strategy and we already provide significant funding and support in this area.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;After restructuring our community rugby department in 2025 we are now able to provide dedicated support to all clubs and schools throughout the country. <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;We fund and run a number of competitions for schools including those which culminate in National Finals days held at either Principality Stadium or Rodney Parade each year.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/sport\/rugby-union\/articles\/c7834894j59o?at_medium=RSS&#038;at_campaign=rss\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Last month, former Wales captain Jonathan Davies called for the WRU board to step down. Businesswoman Hayley Parsons had already called for them to stand down before Davies did the same, while former Principality Building Society chief operating officer Rob Regan has offered to oversee an interim board. In a statement, the WRU board did [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":46905,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46904"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46904"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46904\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46906,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46904\/revisions\/46906"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46905"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46904"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46904"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46904"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}