The 46-year-old from Cumbria takes up the newly created role of rugby operations director in a move that sees him reunited with Debbie Jevans.

Jevans served as the London 2012 director of sport while she is now the England Rugby 2015 chief executive and played a key role in the appointment of Snowball.

"Neil Snowball did a fantastic job as head of sport operations for London 2012 and was responsible for the sporting operational framework which delivered the Games," said Jevans.

"He managed a multi-million pound budget and oversaw the delivery around venues, training bases, team liaison and all of the logistics that support such a huge undertaking."

The appointment of Snowball is part of a wider organisational restructure with England Rugby 2015 now moving from the planning to the operational phase.

The reshuffle means that the roles chief operating officer held by Ross Young and general manager for marketing and communications held by Jon Duckworth both cease to exist and therefore both have left England Rugby 2015 with immediate effect.

Meanwhile, the other current employees whose roles are affected by the reorganisation will have new positions at England Rugby 2015.


"I would like to thank Ross and Jon for their contribution in getting England Rugby 2015 to where it is," said Jevans.

"The Rugby World Cup draw on December 3 marked a step change for England Rugby 2015 from planning to an operational phase.

"England Rugby 2015 needs a structure that reflects that change and ensures: more direct focus on the delivery of the tournament; clearer reporting lines and accountability and better defined business operations that reflect our changing priorities."

The restructuring of the England Rugby 2015, which will be overseen by Jevans after she became chief executive in September this year, will see the organisation split into two distinct areas which are rugby operations and business operations.

The rugby operations department will be led by Snowball who will report directly to Jevans.

The department will oversee the staging of the 48 match tournament and has five areas of responsibility for rugby services, venue operations, tournament services, city operations and tournament technology.

Meanwhile the business operations department will encompass five strands which are ticketing and commercial, communications and marketing, finance, human resources and volunteering and legal.

Each of the heads of the five business units will also report directly to Jevans.

It has also been announced that an executive search consultancy has been appointed to undertake a recruitment process for a communications and marketing director.

The new appointment is expected to be in position by January 2013.

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