Rugby: RFU hit by multi-million pound bill to replace stand roofs at Twickenham

The works to Twickenham will derail other RFU plans. Photo / Photosport

The Rugby Football Union's financial crisis deepened on Friday with news it faces a multi-million pound bill to replace the roofs of three of the four stands at Twickenham Stadium.

It is understood a recent structural inspection of the stadium revealed the roofs over the north, west and east stands, the latter which has just undergone an £81 million redevelopment for hospitality facilities, will have to replaced.

The news is a further blow to the RFU's attempts to reduce its cost base as the governing body must make savings of up to £10 million in the next financial year because of its troubled financial position, with losses of more than £11 million forecast for next year.

It is also understood the plan by Nigel Melville, the RFU's interim chief executive, to establish a permanent Team GB sevens side to replace the England Sevens as part of a bid to save up to £2 million is in jeopardy as it is unlikely to gain the support of the Scottish and Welsh unions.

RFU council sources said the stadium inspection revealed the plastic roofs had all exceeded their normal lifespan of 25 years, with the north stand's roof now 28 years old and the other two 26 years old.

The full cost of the project, which will be carried out over the next two years, has not yet been finalised, but it is certain to be a seven-figure expenditure. It is not yet clear what affect the refurbishment will have for England supporters.

"The glass reinforced plastic roof panels on the east, west and north stands require periodical replacement as part of the normal lifespan of the roof," confirmed an RFU spokeswoman. "The steel [in the roofs] does not and has a much longer life expectancy.

"We are currently evaluating the most cost-effective options to extend the residual lifespan of the roof."

It seems certain the RFU cuts will be even deeper now that the Team GB sevens project appears to have failed. Melville had told the RFU council last month that the governing body were considering axing the England Sevens side in favour of establishing a permanent Team GB side, with the expectation that it could be created by as early as July ahead of next year's Olympics in Japan.

The community game is also bracing itself for cuts of up to £5 million next year and The Daily Telegraph has learnt the artificial grass pitch programme, which was stopped last year as part of the cost-cutting review that included redundancies of more than 50 staff, is now in danger of being axed completely.

The £50 million programme was hailed as one of the key legacies of hosting the 2015 World Cup, which yielded a record £27 million profit for the RFU, but was stopped in June last year after just 26 pitches out of a total of 100 had been installed across the country.

At the time the RFU said it hoped to resume its programme following the cost-cutting review, but it is understood that plans to build a further 10 pitches will now not go ahead unless the governing body secures external sponsorship.

"We are pausing phase three of the artificial grass pitch programme," the RFU spokeswoman added. "We hope this is a temporary pause as we are in discussions with a commercial partner for the programme and, if these discussions are successful, our ambition is to recommence and start building these remaining 10 pitches. We have already built 26 AGPs around the country."