A Gwent man is at the helm of Welsh rugby after the bombshell decision of WRU group chief executive David Moffett to resign and return to New Zealand at the start of next year.

Steve Lewis, the former Ebbw Vale scrum half who lives at Abergavenny, is already WRU chief executive, but it was quickly decided last night that he will become Welsh rugby's main man when Moffett leaves, with Paul Sergeant continuing as Millennium Stadium chief executive.

Lewis is the son of Ernie Lewis of Abertillery, the former international referee, and became Moffett's right hand man two years ago after moving from a top position with a leading oil company.

Grand Slam winning Wales coach Mike Ruddock is from Blaina, close to Lewis' home, so it will be a proud day for North Gwent when Lewis is officially made Welsh rugby's number one administrator.

And to complete a Gwent hat-trick long-standing WRU District A representative Ken Hewitt, a former Abergavenny school headmaster, was last night appointed as an International Board member in succession to Moffett.

Australian Moffett, who held the top jobs in both New Zealand and Wales, told a stunned WRU board meeting yesterday evening of his decision to end his reign only a year into a four-year contract which would have taken him beyond the 2007 World Cup.

He informed the board his decision was for family and personal reasons before going on to address an equally stunned media conference.

It had been the most closely guarded secret in Welsh rugby and there was no sign of such a decision as recently as Sunday's WRU annual meeting. Even the WRU board knew nothing of the body blow Moffett was about to deliver.

He insists he has no job to go to when he flies out to New Zealand and will not expand on the reasons for his decision to leave so early.

The suddenness of it all was revealed by his explanation to the board that he had major house sales in the Vale of Glamorgan and in the Dordogne region of France to try to push through by the end of the year.

Moffett will be remembered for coming in three years ago and revolutionising Welsh rugby on and off the field.

He was the mastermind behind financial decisions which turned Wales from what WRU chairman David Pickering described as 'a basket case' into a Union which can now be respected the world over.

Moffett's hard-headed business decisions resulted in a loss of over £3m being turned into a profit of over £3m. He streamlined the whole WRU operation and he renegotiated the WRU overdraft which at one time reached a staggering £70m and now stands at something like £45m, without any cripplingly high interest charges.

He was also instrumental in bringing an abrupt end to club rugby at the highest level in Wales and replacing it with regional rugby, nine club teams reduced to five regions and then four with the buying out and closure of the Celtic Warriors.

That proved hugely unpopular and Moffett will never be forgiven by rugby fans from Pontypridd and Bridgend in particular after they were effectively disenfranchised.

But if there is a feeling among some Welsh fans that the system will change after Moffett goes it won't because Lewis and David Pickering are committed to the strategic plan and there will be no going back either on the regional rugby front or stringent financial controls.