Wheeler lined up by RFU

FORMER England hooker Peter Wheeler is to become president of the Rugby Football Union in 2019, The

Rugby Paper can reveal Wheeler, 68, is an unusual choice given he is no longer a serving member of the RFU Council.

However, Wheeler’s ‘bighitter’ status for what will be a World Cup year has earned the ex-Leicester chief executive the support of the RFU’s nominations panel, which will be ratified at the Council meeting this Friday.

Meanwhile, governance issues will be discussed at the meeting, with a £12.6m, three-year Sport England funding deal for community initiatives resting on the future make-up of the RFU management board.

As revealed by TRP last month, failure to agree changes that would see the number of RFU Council members sitting on the 13strong board slashed by more than 50 per cent could see Sport England’s funding offer withdrawn.