Nigel Melville, the former England captain and director rugby at Wasps and Gloucester, is yet to decide whether he will apply for the vacant post of RFU chief executive.
Melville, whose current role is the president and chief executive of USA Rugby, appeared to be keen on the vacant RFU chief executive position, but, talking to The Guardian, Melville has now distanced himself from the role. "As usual these things look rather different in black and white and in the cold light of day," said Melville. "The question I was asked was whether I would be interested in the job at the RFU if I returned to Britain and, if so, would it be the performance director or chief executive role. Hence my reply. But there is a big if in there. I had, in relation to the performance director post, already begun to wonder whether that was a direction in which I wanted my career to go. I have enjoyed the business side of my four and a half years in America and still do. I'm still mad keen about rugby, but career-wise I am probably more interested in marketing and developing the sport rather than getting into a track suit and looking in the back of the wardrobe for my old boots."
Melville went on to reiterate his stance in the London Evening Standard. "If I was living in the UK and didn't have a job then, of course, I'd apply but I live in Colorado and have a four-year contract," he said.
The USA Rugby president and chief executive appeared to tick all the boxes required for the vacancy having had experience of rugby at both a business and coaching level. Other names rumoured to be in contention for the RFU's vacancy include outgoing Harlequins' chairman Malcolm Wall, though he has just been appointed CEO of Abu Dhabi Media, former England centre Simon Halliday and the chief executive of Premiership Rugby, Mark McCafferty.