'There's a better way of doing it' - David Humphreys disappointed at 'rushed' Sevens announcement
David Humphreys has expressed his regret for how the plan to disband the men's Sevens programme was communicated, but is doubling down on the controversial decision.
The IRFU announced last month that they would be withdrawing from the men's Sevens circuit with immediate effect, a decision which they said was necessary "to secure the long-term success of Irish Rugby".
Humphreys, specifically, came under serious criticism from several members of last year's Irish Olympic Sevens squad, including former captain Harry McNulty and former World Sevens Player of the Year Terry Kennedy, as well as his predecessor at the IRFU, David Nucifora.
It's believed the decision to axe the Sevens programme has freed up more than €1.2m annually for the IRFU to distribute elsewhere, although that figure has been disputed by McNulty and Kennedy, who claimed various sponsorship programmes were ensuring the programme was washing its grace financially.
And Humphreys (below) says that money will now be used to supplement the women's game as well as Munster, Ulster and Connacht rugby, similar to how the provincial contributions to central contracts will also be funnelled to those provinces.
"It wasn't simply a financial decision," he said of the end of the men's Sevens.
"It was a performance decision based on: we have to be able to reallocate the resources in our system. The budgets are not being cut. Kevin Potts [IRFU chief executive] has said we can't continue to keep doing what we've always done.
"So what that has meant is we've made a performance decision based on the financial reality of the world that rugby is in, not just the IRFU but the wider world, to say we're going to take a longer-term solution which is the money we're going to save from finishing the men's Sevens programme is going entirely into investing in the three provincial pathways and the women's game."
The former Ireland out-half did accept criticism of how the decision was communicated, both to the current squad and to the wider public.
The IRFU made their announcement on 14 May before they had spoken to the players in person, after their decision had become public.
Humphreys says it was a regrettable way to inform the current squad, but that they are continuing to engage with the players affected.
"We all know there is never a good way to deliver bad news, but there's a better way of doing it," he added.
"We had been keeping all the stakeholders involved in the direction of travel, where we were getting to, we had kept some of our senior players, and Simon Keogh at Rugby Players Ireland were aware of the direction. So it didn't come as a surprise to any of the players.
"However, the timing of it... yes, of course we were disappointed it had to be rushed out. We had a very clear plan in place which was after LA [leg of the World SVNS Series], the players had two weeks holidays and when they came back from holidays, we said we would give a presentation as to where both men's and women's sevens was going to go and while we knew were delivering bad news, why we wanted to be in control of it was acknowledging that the process hasn't been perfect and we said this to the players when we met.
"We know the process hasn't been perfect but because of that what we're going to do is pay them to the end of their contracts, including the match fees and win bonusses for competitions they didn't go to, we paid them five months salaries as a lump sum payment, we extended their medical health insurance and we put into an education fund.
"So, what we are saying to them was: 'Look, we know it hasn't been perfect, we are all really disappointed that it's had to come to this, but here's how we're going to help you transition out of it'
"Some are going on trial into the provinces because we're trying to find a way to get them into the system, but ultimately to be rushed the way it was, was uncomfortable for us all and probably didn't help the wider reaction, than if it had been done in a much more controlled manner."
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