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A former captain of Bargoed RFC has been named the new chairman of the Welsh Rugby Union.

Robert Butcher takes over from Gareth Davies, who reached the end of his six-year tenure at the Union’s Annual General Meeting last week.

The WRU Board made the appointment at a meeting held online on Sunday, November 8, with recently appointed fellow board member, and former Wales captain Ieuan Evans also in contention for the role.

Mr Butcher told the WRU website: “It’s an absolute honour to take on the chairmanship of the Welsh Rugby Union at this hugely significant moment in the history of our great game, I am genuinely proud and humbled to be appointed and can promise I will give my all to serve our game.”

He added: “I look forward to working with Ieuan Evans, the rest of the board and the executive as we continue to navigate the impact the ongoing pandemic has had on our game. We will survive this, but our actions now will determine how quickly we get back up to speed.”

Mr Butcher is a long serving member of the WRU Board, having been first elected in 2015 and is the current chair of the Community Game Board.

He becomes the WRU’s fifth chairman of the professional era following Vernon Pugh QC, Glanmor Griffiths, David Pickering and Mr Davies.

In a statement posted on Bargoed RFC’s Facebook page, the club said: “Everyone at Bargoed RFC would like to congratulate Robert Butcher on becoming chairman of the Welsh Rugby Union.

“Robert is an ex club captain, and after his playing days was also a long serving club secretary at Bargoed RFC until his appointment onto the board of the WRU in 2015.

“He became a director of District C and a board member of the WRU before being appointed as chair of the Community Game Sub Board.

“He has worked extremely hard in his role to promote and support community rugby as chair, and as a district director he is a busy man every Saturday visiting the District C clubs and providing support to all in that district. However he has not forgotten his roots at Bargoed RFC and has been a welcome visitor on a number of occasions at games and events over the last couple of years.

“This appointment is great news for Welsh Rugby as there is no doubt that he will put the miles and the hours in, and will work hard to ensure that Welsh Rugby thrives at both professional and community level over the coming years.”