Steve Phillips has called for greater alignment at all levels of rugby in Wales and has slammed the critics of the Welsh Rugby Union's community board directors.
The WRU chief executive has come in for fierce criticism during his time at the helm of Welsh rugby with many accusing him of neglecting the regional game. In an interview with S4C's current affairs series Y Byd ar Bedwar, Phillips maintains he wants the four regions to be successful but insists it can only be achieved with greater alignment.
"Sometimes it is difficult and I come back to the word alignment," said Phillips when asked to describe his relationship with the regions.
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"Once we get alignment it should be a lot easier. We want the international team to do well and we want the regional teams to do well.
"Sometimes it doesn't feel like that. I want the union to look at the regions and say 'well done, you've won', and I want the regions to look at the Wales team and go 'well done, you've won'."
There is currently a freeze on offering contracts at regional level with the four professional sides and the WRU at loggerheads over a way forward for the game in Wales. Last week both parties verbally agreed a six-year financial framework but no deal has yet been signed.
Phillips refused to put a deadline on when a deal would be completed but warned it must work for Welsh rugby to be successful.
"I'm not going to give you a date as to the signing but I'd be optimistic it's not too far away," he said. "It has to work. We've got to work together to make sure it does work but can it go wrong? Yes."
Another criticism pointed at the WRU is around the governance with many claiming the amount of community directors on the main board is holding back the professional game in Wales, but Phillips finds this criticism extremely distasteful.
"I don't really like the criticism, to be bluntly honest, of the community-appointed directors," said Phillips. "I just think that's inappropriate.
"You've got to remember the WRU is here not just to save the professional side of the game, it's got a commercial operation, it's got a community arm to deliver, it's got a professional arm to deliver and if we don't deliver all of them, and around the same time, we are probably doing something wrong."
Following a wretched year for the men's national side, which included embarrassing home defeats to both Italy and Georgia, Phillips took extreme measures by sacking Wayne Pivac and reappointing Warren Gatland as head coach for next year's Six Nations and Rugby World Cup. It has also been suggest that Gatland could remain in Wales until the 2027 Rugby World Cup in Australia in a director of rugby role.
When asked whether appointing Gatland was akin to taking aspirin for a bad wound, Phillips said: "I wouldn't agree with that because there's not a lot of time to turn this around. He is very good at turning teams and squads around. He's done this with Wales before, and he's done it with the Lions so I wouldn't agree with that. I'm just glad to have him back.
"What we need here most of all is alignment. Everything is intrinsically linked. It's not about international rugby, it's not about community rugby, it's about them all. What Warren is going to do internationally, his track record speaks for itself.
"That then pushes down to the Premiership and community rugby. It's all one big circle and I think with Warren at the helm I'm very optimistic we can see some results. We've got to get our pathways, our pipelines correct, and we've got to give everybody the opportunity to succeed. We are far from the finished product.
"I don't want you taking away from here, I sit at my desk thinking the WRU don't need to improve. We need to improve, everybody needs to improve."
Watch Y Byd ar Bedwar: What does the future hold for Welsh rugby on Monday, December 12, at 8pm on S4C, or on demand on S4C Clic and iPlayer. English subtitles are available.
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