Welsh Rugby Union 

Our role

Cavendish provided strategic counsel, crisis support and stakeholder engagement to help the WRU navigate periods of heightened scrutiny and organisational change. 

We supported the organisation through fast-moving reputational challenges, improving communications planning, media handling and organisational responsiveness during periods of intense pressure. 

Alongside this, we designed and delivered a major bilingual engagement programme, including public surveys, structured stakeholder consultation and more than 30 in-depth engagement sessions with clubs, players and supporters. 

We combined quantitative research, sentiment analysis and stakeholder insight to support evidence-based decision-making around the future structure and sustainability of professional rugby in Wales. 

The challenge

Welsh Rugby Union faced sustained scrutiny around governance, culture and the future structure of the professional game in Wales. 

Issues including women’s rugby contract disputes, governance concerns and wider reform debates generated intense media attention, political interest and stakeholder pressure across one of the UK’s most high-profile sporting environments. 

At the same time, the WRU needed to undertake a major review of elite rugby structures in Wales, requiring credible engagement with players, clubs, supporters and wider stakeholders to inform difficult strategic decisions.