Raelene Castle has become the first woman to serve as Rugby Australia CEO.

Castle formerly served as chief executive of Netball New Zealand and rugby league club, the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs.

The New Zealander takes over as Rugby Australia boss from Bill Pulver, who stood down from the post after the Force were axed from Super Rugby.

She is also the first woman to lead a national governing body across all of the major unions in world rugby.

‘Raelene is an extremely impressive executive who covered every base as far as what the board was looking for in a chief executive officer to lead our game into an important new chapter,’ said RA chairperson Cameron Clyne.

‘She offers an incredible wealth of experience in sports administration and business, with an outstanding track record in commercial, marketing and communications roles.’

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