Former Scarlets and Cardiff Blues coach Phil Davies has been appointed as World Rugby’s director of rugby.
Davies, who won 46 caps for Wales as a back-five forward, has most recently been working at the helm of Leeds Tykes.
But he is now to take up one of the most prestigious posts in the world game.
The 58-year-old fills the vacancy created by former Ireland coach Joe Schmidt stepping down to spend more time with his family in New Zealand.
Davies has been involved in coaching and management for more than a quarter of a century all told. You can read about his rugby life in full here.
As well as spells in charge of Cardiff Blues and Scarlets, plus two stints at Leeds, he has also been involved at Worcester and RGC, while steering Namibia to consecutive World Cups in 2015 and 2019.
In his new post, which he starts in February, Davies will be charged with shaping performance management processes for elite match officials, nurturing relationships with high performance national team coaches and advancing World Rugby’s relationship with players on performance matters.
In addition, he will support emerging nations in sustainably bridging the competition gap at the highest levels of the game and will play a key role in ensuring welfare continues to be at the heart of the law review process.
Davies said: “I am delighted and humbled to be joining the World Rugby team and am looking forward to getting started.
“I am passionate about the sport, its people and global potential and I believe that I can bring my experiences of playing and coaching in more than 20 nations over the past 35 years to support further growth and development to the sport both off and on the field, in particular in the important areas of welfare, sustainable high-performance programmes and laws evolution.”
World Rugby chief executive Alan Gilpin said: “We are delighted to be appointing a person of Phil’s experience, calibre and passion to this strategically-important position at such an exciting time for the sport.
“Phil’s profound knowledge and passion for the high performance and technical aspects of the game, coupled with the huge respect that he carries, will help us build on solid foundations forged by Joe Schmidt to increase our connection and collaboration with important stakeholders – players, coaches, match officials and fans.”
World Rugby chief player welfare and rugby Services Officer Mark Harrington added: “Phil is a great technician and a big-picture thinker. His expertise is perfectly suited to our ambition of making the game even more attractive and accessible for all and we are looking forward to welcoming him to World Rugby in February.”
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