Sir Tasker Watkins has stepped down as president of the Welsh Rugby Union.

It was rumoured for some time he was finishing and he confirmed this at last night's WRU board meeting.

He will officially bring down the curtain on his reign as the head of the WRU at the annual meeting at the end of September.

But it means Sir Tasker has basically finished at the top of the WRU with immediate effect. He has been president for eight years and in that time has been a huge figurehead for Welsh rugby during turbulent times.

He won the Victoria Cross for gallantry in World War 2 and was a High Court judge. He was WRU president during the big transition when the game went professional and he has overseen the major changes in the game.

He often spoke out, sometimes even against the WRU itself, and he was involved in controversy when his report into the future of the game was rejected after his own chairman, Glanmor Griffiths, spoke against it.

But the memory of Sir Tasker will be his courage and his stature within Welsh Rugby and his command during special and extraordinary meetings of the WRU as the game struggled to get to grips with professionalism.

Nominations to succeed him must be in this weekend. It is believed the early front runner is ex-Wales and British Lions lock Keith Rowlands, an ex-WRU committee member and secretary of the International Board.