"Like me, I know you will have all enjoyed England’s thrilling win over France in the Guinness Men’s Six Nations last weekend and will be looking forward to the Red Roses participating in the Guinness Six Nations and a home Rugby World Cup.

I also recognise that while our national teams always attract the most attention and are used as a barometer for the state of English rugby, the present and future of English rugby is as much in the hands of you – our club administrators and volunteers, our players, match officials, coaches and parents – as it is in the hands of the 23 players in white at Allianz Stadium.

It’s been just over a month since I first wrote to you when I was appointed to the role of Interim Chair of the Rugby Football Union Board and addressed the call for a Special General Meeting (SGM).

In response to the calling of the SGM, I promised to hit the road on a nationwide tour to listen to the concerns, challenges and thoughts of the community game.

We are now around halfway through this nationwide tour. So far, we – myself, RFU President Rob Udwin; Bill Sweeney, our CEO; Steve Grainger, Executive Director Rugby Development; David Roberts, Chair of the Community Game Board; Malcolm Wharton, Chair of the Governance Review Group: Deborah Griffin, Senior Vice President and luminaries of our game such as Jason Leonard and John Inverdale – have held 11 roadshows, eight in person, three virtual and have attended five club visits between roadshows. Representatives of around 250 clubs have attended, and a further seven roadshows are due to take place between now and 20 February.

I thought it would be useful to share some insights we have heard so far. There have been three types of challenges raised – ones that have re-enforced things we were aware of and are addressing; ones we can address easily; and some we did not previously fully understand.

We have heard we need to improve our governance structures, to improve representation from the community game and ensure voices of the community game are heard and involved in decision making. This is something we want too and why we have a Governance and Representation Review underway, however, the feedback we have heard underlines the need for this work to be an absolute priority and for the work to be accelerated.

We hear loud and clear that the communications from the RFU to the community game have not been as clear or consistent as they could be. This letter aims to start to improve that, and I will be providing further updates once the nationwide tour is complete to reflect our desire to engage with you on the big issues facing the community game."