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New WRU chair Lyndon Faulkner(Image: Mark Lewis/Huw Evans Agency)
The new Welsh Rugby Union chair, Lyndon Faulkner, has vowed he will not be a “yes man" and insisted he will abandon plans to cut Welsh rugby to three professional teams if a review of the evidence convinces him it is the wrong decision for the game.
Faulkner, who is due to take up the role at the end of November, says he would not have accepted the job if he had been expected to rubber-stamp decisions already made by the governing body.
The WRU is currently set to reduce Wales’ professional rugby landscape from four teams to three, leaving either the Ospreys or Scarlets facing the prospect of being cut. The proposals also include investing £28m in the pathway over the next five years.
Faulkner has yet to reveal how many professional teams he believes Wales can sustain, but is prepared to review all the available data before making a decision.
"So, here's my plan," he told WalesOnline in his first major interview. "First of all, I'm not in the job yet and officially I'm not in the job until the end of November.
"What I am going to do is start on November 2 and I am going to be looking at everything.
"There's some talk out there that whoever took this job was under the condition they can't talk about the four to three or four to two or whatever it is going to be.
"That is absolutely incorrect. I wouldn't have taken the job with those conditions.
"So, I feel it's my job to look at everything we've got going on, challenge it, probe it and hopefully bring my experience to bear where I think we can do things better."
Faulkner is also willing to recommend a change of course for the WRU if he believes that is the right way forward.
"Yes and that's on anything I see," said Faulkner when asked if he was prepared to force change.
"Whatever I feel I see, I will make my case. I haven't done what I've done in business by not doing that.
"To the extent I'll see change then I will be making recommendations.
"Of course I'll be making recommendations to change whatever that might be."
Faulkner's credentials are formidable. He played key roles in the introduction of CDs and DVDs, helped bring Xbox, Windows XP and Office 2000 to market during his time at Microsoft, and oversaw the flotation of Nimbus CD International on Nasdaq.
Subsequent acquisitions helped transform Technicolor into a global player in digital media and home entertainment.
Faulkner was also at the forefront of the compact disc revolution, championing the technology when the music industry remained wedded to vinyl and cassette.
At Nimbus, he secured the backing of Richard Branson before taking the technology to America. Following Robert Maxwell’s acquisition of the company, Faulkner led a management buyout after Maxwell’s death.
New WRU chair Lyndon Faulkner at the Cardiff v Bridgend game at the Arms Park(Image: Mark Lewis/Huw Evans Agency)
His record at Pelican Products, where he held senior leadership roles between 2006 and 2021, was similarly impressive.
Faulkner is candid about the qualities that have underpinned his success, insisting he would not have reached the heights he has in business had he been a yes man or lacked the ruthlessness required to make tough decisions.
"I wouldn't have taken the job were it to be me needing to be a yes man," he said.
"Look at my resume and my CV. Also, just so you know everything, I've probed on everything and I'm starting to ask for information.
"The information is coming. Nobody is holding anything back from me. I'm not getting anything that's filtered.
"I'm getting stuff on finance and stuff like that as I prepare to look at things fully disclosed.
"Everyone is sending me everything I'm asking for. I say that as a point of reference as well.
"Many people have asked me why I've taken this job?
"Let's be honest, I'm putting my professional reputation on the line.
"It's impeccable to date. I batted six for six. So yes there is reputational risk for me but there's no financial risk.
"I don't need the job. This is purely motivated around trying to help and make a difference for Welsh rugby to be better."
Faulkner will join a 12-strong WRU board whose members have all backed the current proposals, including cutting one professional team in west Wales and investing £28m in the pathway over the next five years.
The chairman has traditionally wielded considerable influence within the boardroom, giving Faulkner a significant voice in determining the future direction of Welsh rugby.
While his role is non-executive, Faulkner has made clear that his appointment must mean his experience and recommendations are taken seriously.
"Let's be perfectly clear, this is a non-executive role," he said.
"I'm not running the organisation but I am the chair and have the experience, that's why they picked me because of my experience.
"It would be foolish to pick me and then not take consideration of what I say.
"It depends on the severity of the nature. If it's a light item we could agree to disagree and perhaps we all move on as normal.
"If it's something that's relevant and they don't agree then probably I'm not the man for the job."
While Faulkner is open to changing course, he is also a decisive operator who will not shy away from pushing through unpopular reforms if he believes they are in the best long-term interests of Welsh rugby. That means if he believes the WRU's current course is the right one, he won't bow to the public pressure currently being applied from multiple directions.
"If I feel there needs to be a change then I'm going to drive the change.
"I don't think to appease anybody by not doing that.
"When you are making tough decisions you are not going to please everybody all the time.
"But I think you go and talk to them and it still means you have a professional relationship.
"But that shouldn't detract one from making tough decisions, no."
WRU chairman Lyndon Faulkner watches the game from the stand(Image: Huw Evans Picture Agency)
Faulkner has also hit back at some of the WRU’s critics, arguing that the volume of outside commentary risks distracting from the players and the game itself.
"There's no shortage of people telling me what we should be doing," he said.
"I will say I have had hundreds of goodwill notes.
"I do feel there is a lot of noise. The first problem I have with that is that it is distracting from the playing side of things.
"We've got to rally behind these guys. They've got three big games coming up.
"I think we've got some bright things going on on the playing side so we need to get behind that.
"Some of the noise coming out, and I'm friendly with a lot of these people,... I think we all want the same thing which is a good functioning WRU.
"But what bothers me is I'm getting in the ring. So I'm putting my reputation on the line.
"All these people are buying seats by the side of the ring and shouting from the sidelines when they could have been getting in.
"It does frustrate me that there's a lot of voices out there telling everybody what to do but many of those voices are not prepared to get into the fight.
"That list is quite extensive."
Faulkner has defended the WRU's decision to save Cardiff in April 2024, insisting the club's place in Welsh rugby is too important to lose.
"What I will say though is that I'm glad the WRU rescued Cardiff. I cannot imagine Welsh rugby without a Cardiff in it," he said.
"If some people had had their way and Cardiff went through they would be pouring concrete on this ground now and building flats.
"That's unimaginable to me.
"For us as a rugby culture that's unimaginable that Cardiff would not be part of who we are.
"Has it provided some difficulties? Yes.
"Will we figure it out? Yes.
"But that pain has been far outweighed by the benefit it has for Welsh rugby and I think the WRU did the right thing."
When it was put to him that some would argue a Welsh rugby future without Scarlets or Ospreys is also unimaginable, he said: "You've got to review it first with the other clubs.
"Yeah, I've got to review it. First of all I'm empathetic to that.
"We've got four regions. We've got all these clubs. They've all got their history in our great game.
"So I am understanding of the emotions that it drives. At the end of the day though we've got a review to do and look at how that comes out and until such time I can't really share with you but I am understanding of that."
Faulkner takes charge of the WRU at a time of acute financial pressure, with the governing body reporting an £18m loss last week.
He acknowledges the scale of the challenge but is determined to put the organisation’s finances on a more sustainable footing.
"It's very worrying," he admits. "I didn't know it was coming.
The WRU's accounts make grim reading(Image: Kian Abdullah/Huw Evans Agency)
"It was disclosed in an internal meeting before it came out and yes it was quite a surprise to me.
"Probably I should have asked more about that during the process but the interview process was much more about the board interviewing me not me interviewing the board.
"Of the information I looked at, the previous financials didn't look as bad as this one.
"I did have access to information, it just wasn't up to date information.
"That's up there when you talk about priorities.
"But as we do start to look at it there'll be things that we need to change or improve that will make a difference to those numbers.
"I'll be working with the executive team there on ideas and things that we can do to manage costs, things that we can do to get revenue in.
"I've run challenging businesses before.
"I've bought companies that I felt would be better off if they were better managed and we bought them knowing that we could do things to those businesses.
"So, yeah I wouldn't say this is my typical MO but yes I've encountered these sort of situations before."
Faulkner is confident the scale of the WRU's financial challenges will not deter him, drawing on his experience of managing businesses with substantial operations.
"You know, the other thing is that £100 million doesn't frighten me," he said.
"Like I said, this is one of the much bigger organisations where we've had subsidiaries bigger than £100 million. So I'm pretty sure we're going to get very quickly to the issues we need to get to."
Unlike some of his predecessors, Faulkner has deep roots in Welsh rugby. His uncle Charlie was part of Pontypool’s formidable front row during the 1970s and went on to represent Wales and the British and Irish Lions.
Faulkner also played for Pontypool and hopes that his own connection to the game will help him build trust among Welsh rugby’s key stakeholders.
Faulkner was also questioned on the possibility of an Anglo-Welsh league, an alternative that has featured in discussions about the future structure of Welsh professional rugby.
"I played in an Anglo Welsh league," he recalls. "I think we actually won it one year when I was there.
"It was pretty good, right? You're playing the Bath and the Bristol's, your crowds are full.
"The English and Welsh rivalry comes out in abundance.
"So, I recognise what you're saying about what that brings.
"Again, I am with you but I think I'm right in saying that the Welsh Rugby Union have an agreement for four teams to be in the URC.
"So, that's where we are at this time and I think you've got four teams playing in the competitive league and have been.
"So, there are discussions or points of view on things that might be alternative options but at the moment we're in the URC with four regional teams."
As Welsh rugby faces some of the biggest decisions in its history, Faulkner is determined to shape its future on his own terms, even if that means going against the very plans he has been brought in to oversee.
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