Nigel Gillingham is halfway through his year as president of the Rugby Football Union.

He took on the prestigious role at the start of August, a role he says is “a huge honour and a privilege”.

His time at the helm has already seen him take in the Women’s World Cup in New Zealand, a tournament that saw the hosts overcome England 34-21 in what proved to be a thrilling final at the end of last year.

“It wasn’t the result we wanted but I think historically people will look back on the game as one of huge significance and one of the greatest Test matches ever played, either by men or women,” Gillingham said.

“I think it will be comparable for historic consequence with the men’s final in 1995 between South Africa and New Zealand.

“The drama, the excitement, it really was a great game of rugby.

“What we must do now is build on that World Cup final. The women’s game has grown but now we must grab that opportunity to attract more girls into the game.”

This year, it’s the turn of the men to take centre with their World Cup in France, a seven-week extravaganza of rugby that runs from Friday 8^th September to Saturday 28^th October.

And with this year’s Six Nations Championship almost upon us, the European club competitions in full flow and the domestic league and cup competitions at local, regional and national level all still to be decided, it’s easy to see why rugby remains such a captivating sport for so many.

And yet the sport of rugby, as with a good number of other sports, is still getting to grips with the Covid fallout and the impact that the various lockdowns have had on the game.

“We are recovering after Covid and the game is not without its challenges,” admitted Gillingham.

“We are in a time of great turbulence, not just in rugby but in the country and indeed the world.

“But the way I look at it, these challenges provide us with great opportunities and in terms of rugby we must try to take them.”

Gillingham, who lives in Stroud, is a member of the Gloucestershire RFU and is supremely qualified to talk about the great game that is rugby, having been involved with the sport for much of his life.

He was a second row or back row for Leicester in the 1970s when they were the top team in the land, and was in the side that won the John Player Cup at Twickenham in 1980.

Rugby at the top level was a very different game in those days – for a start it was an amateur sport – and while Gillingham is most certainly someone who likes to look forward rather than back, there are certain parts of the game from yesteryear that he doesn’t want to lose.

“Rugby at the top level is much more physical now,” he said. “It’s all about winning the breakdown.

“In the past it was more about creating space and exploiting space, I don’t want us to lose the art of exploiting space.

“It’s so important that we educate children and teenagers, if we do they’ll bring those skills into the adult game.”

Reducing the number of collisions, even by a small amount, should in turn reduce the number of injuries, but while injuries are part and parcel of what is, after all, a physical game, Gillingham is keen to point out there are huge differences between elite rugby and community rugby.

“I always say that the elite game is like driving an F1 car,” he explained. “You are given specialist training to do a job.

“Community rugby is like driving the family car, that’s a vast difference.”

Players still get injured in grassroots rugby, of course, but Gillingham, who was talking to The Local Answer before the RFU announced its new tackle law, has clear ideas on how the number of those injuries can be reduced.

“In age group rugby, as well as playing contact, we could have a non-contact format,” he said.

“That would allow youngsters to learn the skills and the core values of the game without the physical side.

“Then if they want to move into the contact game that’s great. But if they want to continue playing non-contact that’s fine too.

“This would help schools as well as ease the concerns of parents.”

It’s about attracting – and keeping – as many youngsters as possible, of course, and this extends to the adult community game as well.

Rugby’s recently launched ‘Game On’ initiative allows, at the lower levels of the leagues, matches of 10-a-side to be played.

And with other tweaks to the regulations, such as uncontested scrums and shortening the length of the game, the aim is to ensure as many players as possible, and a referee, get a game of rugby.

Gillingham is a big supporter of this type of flexibility.

“We have to recognise what today’s players want and how changes to society have affected what they want,” he said.

“Players don’t want to travel so far, they want to be more flexible about when they play, they don’t want to play every week. We need to look at different formats.

“We also need to look at when we play games. At Stroud RFC, they’ve played a couple of league games on Friday nights under lights and they’ve found they’ve had a completely different audience.

“Families have turned up to watch and it means players can also spend the weekends with their families.”

The RFU are currently doing a study into what they think a community rugby club should look like in 2030 and beyond in terms of what they should offer and what sort of facilities they should have.

“Fifteen-a-side contact rugby will always be our core,” said Gillingham, “but that is not to say that alongside that there can’t be other formats.

“If clubs want to run touch rugby or walking rugby that’s great. I play walking rugby at Kingswood RFC, there are 30 or 40 of us aged from 25 to their late 70s.

“And about half-a-dozen of those players have now become volunteers at the club.”

Gillingham is also a big supporter of mixed ability rugby – a game for people over the age of 16 who play in the same team regardless of whether they have a disability or not – a game which is proving very popular at Longlevens RFC.

“I’ve been to Longlevens and watched them play, it’s brilliant what they do,” Gillingham said.

Turning to the English Premiership, he believes the sad demise of Wasps and Worcester provides an opportunity to restructure and ensure that the financial stability of all clubs is much more assured and transparent, with the number of clubs such that it allows its international stars to fulfil their international commitments and play in a greater percentage of club matches, without compromising their welfare.

That, he believes, would increase the excitement levels and attract bigger crowds, which in turn would increase the exposure on TV and the media in general.

Alongside the Premiership, he would want to see a strong and attractive Championship, also attracting bigger crowds and TV and media exposure, with a system for promotion and relegation between the two, as well as between the Championship and National Leagues, subject to the promoted clubs achieving minimum standards of player and spectator facilities, medical support, and a business plan that ensures their financial stability.

It’s easy to see why Gillingham, who served in the RAF for many years, was elected to the role of president of the RFU and it’s fair to say he’ll still be contributing to the sport long after he has stepped down later in the summer. And for that, rugby should be very grateful.

Gillingham will be succeeded as president by Rob Briers, who made his name as a player for West Park in Lancashire in the 1970s and also played for England Under-23s.