WRU announces greater White role

Craig White will co-ordinate all aspects of physical performance for Wales

Wales conditioning coach Craig White has been elevated to the position of National Squad Performance Manager.

The Welsh Rugby Union appointed White last May, completing the backroom staff of Wales coach Warren Gatland.

White assumed more responsibility in the national set-up following the departure of Elite Performance Director Graeme Maw soon afterwards.

Although White will retain a hands-on coach role, he will now co-ordinate all physical performance areas for Wales.

White will report directly to Gatland, but maintain strong links with National Performance Manager Huw Wiltshire to ensure consistency of approach.

"In my short experience in Wales, we have the potential for establishing a truly world-class environment for the production of top-class players and this has stood out in comparison to all the other places I have worked," said White.

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"The one overriding thing we have in our favour as a nation is the heavy concentration of rugby talent in what is just a small area in terms of the geography of the country.

"Those bare facts present a golden opportunity for us to nurture the playing talent we have available to us and, at international level, leaves us with no excuses as to why each and every individual who comes through should not reach their true potential."

Former Wasps, Leicester and Lions fitness coach White will co-ordinate physical conditioning, injury-prevention strategies, rehabilitation, nutrition, sports science and performance monitoring.

"We are in pretty good shape already and the players we are working with at the moment are in a position to maintain the healthy state of Welsh rugby for the short term," he added.

"We have a squad that could go head to head with any in the world game at the moment physically and come out favourably on their day.

"But the important factor is to not only maintain those high standards, but to continually improve them as the squad evolves, to stand us in good stead for years to come and that is the very crux of this new role."