Nadine Griffiths has answered Welsh rugby’s call.
The 44-times-capped Welsh international has been appointed to the Welsh Rugby Union’s executive team as its new director of women’s rugby, a role she says ‘feels more like a calling than a job’
Griffiths, who began her post-rugby career as a rugby development officer at the WRU in the early 2000s, returns, fired up and with a career’s worth of elite and community rugby experience behind her.
She featured for Wales in the 1998 Rugby World Cup, went on to became one of the first female level 3 coaches in the UK after hanging up her boots and was part of the coaching team on Wales Women’s successful tour of South Africa in 2013.
Since then, she has built an exceptional career spanning professional sport, governing bodies and multi-agency partnerships. She has grown participation, strengthened pathways and has left lasting positive impact wherever she has gone.
WRU CEO Abi Tierney is delighted to welcome Nadine back into the Welsh Rugby Union family: “Nadine shone through in a competitive field of candidates and is uniquely placed. She has played and coached at the elite end of the game, but has also dedicated her career to the women’s and girl’s pathway in Cardiff and to developing community rugby. We are thrilled to welcome her back into the WRU family.”
Originally from Pencoed, Griffiths joins from Cardiff Rugby where she has served as Community Foundation Director. Since creating the foundation, she has grown it into an organisation that now reaches over 120,000 people a year.
Griffiths is passionate about Welsh rugby and felt a strong call to take on this new role: “I am passionately Welsh. I have a great understanding of the opportunities and the barriers across the women’s and girl’s game and the challenges our clubs face.
“That insight matters, because growth won’t come from copying others, it will come from building something that reflects Wales, its communities and its identity.
“I feel like I have come full circle from the young girl in Pencoed who watched the 1991 Rugby World Cup and dared to dream of pulling on that red jersey, to now being responsible for inspiring the next generation to do exactly the same.
“This is a hugely exciting time. Women’s sport is on a remarkable growth trajectory in Wales and globally.
“With the inaugural women’s British & Irish Lions tour in 2027, the whole world is about to sit up and take notice of the women’s game once again.
“We will have Welsh representation on that Lions tour. We will make trailblazers of the players already leading the way and we will create a new generation of female sporting heroes to inspire our children and grow the game across this great, rugby-loving nation.
“We will take the nation with us on this incredible journey of growth and inspiration for women’s sport, ymlaen.”
Griffiths will officially take up her position as Director of Women’s Rugby at the WRU on 1st June, but will begin the transition across from Cardiff Rugby (a WRU subsidiary) with immediate effect.