• Players were threatened with withdrawal from World Cup
• Organisation denies sexism played any part

The Welsh Rugby Union says it “needs to apologise” for threats to withdraw the women’s team from competition but the organisation denies any ­motivation for its actions was sexist.

The allegations, reported by the Telegraph, said the women’s team were threatened with withdrawal from next year’s Rugby World Cup if they did not sign new contracts. The report also alleged the WRU’s chief executive, Abi Tierney, did not want to pay travel expenses for the team. The governing body denies some of the allegations.