The board is made up of fifteen individuals aged between 16 and 21, seven of whom are female and eight male, who form a wide geographical representation of Wales and the national game, and will meet for the first time at Principality Stadium on Monday 15th February.
Three members hail from North or mid Wales with Ela Jones (17) an U10s and U14s coach at Denbigh RFC, Dafydd Duggan (17) from Llandidloes RFC and Kay Davies (18) originally from Trefeglwys, but studying Sport Management at Cardiff Met University.
Thomas George (17) and one of the two youngest members Dan Evans (16) are furthest West, with Thomas a member of Fishguard Rugby Club in Pembrokeshire and Dan associated to Pembrokeshire Colleges, Dyffryn Taff School and Whitland RFC, whilst Cameron Petrie (17) is Carmarthenshire based, at Llandovery College, but also a member of the Ospreys academy.
Further East on the M4 corridor 16-year-old Samuel Evans is from Dulais Valley and attends Llangatwg Community School whilst coaching his club’s U7s side and Menna Preece (18) is from Seven Sisters and also with the Ospreys academy.
Andrew Moule, 19, from Port Talbot gains much of his knowledge of rugby from being a referee, but the board member with perhaps the most impressive rugby credentials is Calum Haggett, also 19, who is from Gilfach Goch rugby club – but is also the former Wales U18s captain.
Bronwen Prosser, 19, is another member studying in Cardiff, she is undertaking a degree in Engineering, but describes herself as a complicated Welsh girl and originally hails from Taunton in Somerset.
Johanna Penrose, 17, is also currently local to the Welsh capital, studying at St John’s college, although she is originally from Machen.
Millie Williams, who is the other ‘youngster’ at 16-years-old, represents Wattstown RFC, but also has an association with the Cardiff Blues academy and has featured for the Wales Womens U18s side.
Most easterly, Luke Rees (19) is an Abertillery RFC player who coaches, has been an international ball boy and is also a Sport Wales ambassador and, finally, 18-year-old Jo Williams is a Dragons Senior Womens player and a Level 1 referee, from Treharris.
“We have gathered a rich and varied array of young talent to form the inaugural WRU Youth Board and I am very much looking forward to meeting everyone at our first meeting in February,” said WRU chief executive Martyn Phillips, who will chair the board – which will meet quarterly over the next two years – himself.
“We have a packed agenda and we are going to go right to the heart of some of the big issues affecting Welsh rugby at the moment for our first meeting, with no holding back.
“We asked each of the candidates to give their views on how we should engage as a Union with future players, referees, volunteers and supporters – people of their own generation and the next one coming through and we will be going deeper into those views.
“We will also be discussing the future of the youth board itself, its aims and its objectives and what we want it to achieve and asking some of the bigger and wider questions about the WRU and the way our national sport is viewed and operated.
“This is going to be good, open, honest and frank discussion and the WRU as an organisation is going to benefit hugely from what these young people will be able to offer.
“The new WRU Youth Board will play an important part in the future of the WRU as will the advisory panel we have selected to sit alongside it.”
One of the main discussion points on the agenda at the new WRU Youth Board’s first gathering will be methods of future engagement with young people in Wales, but the meeting will have a wide ranging remit and leave no topic off the table in its ongoing discussions about the national game.
The standard of applications for the Board was extremely high and so a further list of 30 of the top candidates have been invited to sit on an ‘advisory panel’ to the board.
The advisory panel will be an important focus group and be asked for opinions on all WRU Youth Board topics throughout the year. All successful applicants have also received free membership to the WRU’s official supporters club as a recognition of their dedication to rugby.
WRU Youth Board XV for 2016 – with biographical information (alphabetical):
Kay Davies, 18, Powys (f) – studying Sport Management at Cardiff Met University, Sport Cardiff coach, Trefeglwys
Dafydd Duggan, 17, Powys (m) – Llandidloes RFC, RGC Development programme. Ysgol Bro Hyddgen, Llanbrynmair
Dan Evans, 16, Pembrokeshire/Carmarthenshire (m) – Ysgol Dyffryn Taf, Whitland RFC, Pembrokeshire Colleges
Samuel Evans, 16, Neath (m) – Dulais Valley. Neath College. U7s coach, level 2. Llandarcy academy of sport. Llangatwg Community School
Calum Haggett, 19, Porth (m) – Coleg y Cymoedd, Nantgarw. Gilfach Goch RFC. Former Wales U18s captain. Tonyrefal
Ela Jones, 17, Denbigh (f) – Clwb Rugby Dinbych, Ysgol Glan Clwyd, Nant Conwy girls. Coach U10s, U14s.
Andrew Moule, 19, Port Talbot (m) – Glan Afan Comprehensive. Referee.
Johanna Penrose, 17, Machen (f) – Wyclif Christian School, Caerphilly. St John’s College Cardiff
Cameron Petrie, 17, Llandovery (m) – Llandovery College. Ospreys Academy
Thomas William George, 17, Pembrokeshire (m) – Ysgol Wdig, Fishguard RFC. Player, coach, ref.
Menna Preece, 18, (f) Powys – Ospreys academy, Seven Sisters
Bronwen Prosser, 19, Cardiff (f) – King’s College Taunton. Studying Engineering in Cardiff
Luke Rees, 19, Abertillery (m) – Youth Sport Trust, Sport Wales. University of South Wales. Abertillery RFC player and coach. Ball boy. Sport Wales ambassador.
Emily (Millie) Williams, 16, Wattstown (f) – Porth County Comprehensive School. Wattstown RFC. Blues. Wales U18s. U15s coach.
Jo Williams, 18, Newport (f) – Dragons Senior. Level 1 ref. Treharris
(Link to video: http://supporters.wru.co.uk/matchdaytv/?play=media&id=22800)
