Malcolm Holmes was always going to be judged hard in his first couple of years as chief executive.
And he was by some outsiders. He replaced David White, seen as the man who put Wellington Rugby on the front foot.
But Holmes could afford to smile with quiet satisfaction after last year's NPC after a season which netted a third for the Hurricanes in the Super 12 and a second for Wellington in the NPC.
Not a win, and that grinded, but the base appears to have been laid for future glory.
Holmes had never administered sport when he took the job - but he had a playing career, which included being New Zealand Secondary Schools captain and playing for North Island under-18 as a hooker.
Clubwise he played for Wellington in the Capital and High School Old Boys in Palmerston North.
But administration? Not a skerrick.
"I was Carter Holt Harvey's tissue commercial manager in Auckland, looking after their business in Australia and New Zealand. But these opportunities (Wellington Rugby Union) don't come up often.
"I took the job because like everyone I'm passionate about rugby and it was a great chance," Holmes said.
"I wanted to come back to Wellington because it was home, and I'm a results-orientated person - I don't want to die wondering. I like to make things happen."
When he arrived after the 2000 season, Wellington was NPC champion, the business had grown rapidly, and the Hurricanes franchise had also been booming (off the park), and most felt some consolidation was needed. But there was also a need to build from within and enlarge the home player base giving the homegrown players every advantage.
"Consolidation was part of my brief, just to continue to build on what had been achieved. Sure we had a winning NPC side - but that side had a lot of imported players because effectively my predecessor David White had been told to go and buy a team to win the championship. And that's what he did."
So, says Holmes, it was most pleasing to see that the majority of the players who ran out in the 2003 NPC final against Auckland were born-and-bred in Wellington.
"That's part of the strategy to achieve sustained success."
Overall that strategy surrounds five goals worked out by the board in their strategic review last year:
Leave no stone unturned to consistently win the NPC.
Broaden the revenue base.
Work on retaining the rugby family through and beyond the secondary school years.
Consistently examine the benefits offered to clubs.
Align the interests of both amateur and professional rugby.
"Overall the model we worked out is based on having a professional arm as successful as it can be so that it can generate revenue to fund the amateur game here in Wellington," Holmes says.
That's all very well, but Wellington's fortunes and those of the Super 12 Hurricanes are intertwined as well.
"My first brief was to build on success in Wellington and try to deliver the same with the Hurricanes. They had been an under-achieving side on the field but outstanding off it."
Outstanding right enough. In eight years the WRU business has increased from around a $1 million turnover in 1995 to $9 million at the end of the last financial year. The last two years has seen $1 million added each time.
That means there's a gold mine around this area, and it has to be protected. Thus Holmes has become inextricably involved in the turnover of coaches whose teams did not produce the results the Wellington and Hurricanes boards wanted.
Professional sport has limited space for sentiment and "what might be next year if we get another chance."
Thus Graham Mourie, David Rennie and Ellis Meachen have lost jobs for the two teams, and future success is clearly necessary for the present coaches to keep their's
"Yes, we've had to make some big calls. Last year (2003) is the first year I haven't had to look for a new coach. But we have to act in the best interests of the business. You have to control what you can control.
"My personal belief is that - although it may seem harsh - that finishing fifth is not good enough for what is a proud rugby province. It's a tough business and it's results-orientated. The coaches take that on board and they go into it with their eyes open," Holmes said.
"They have total control - and they have to have that if they're going to be held accountable."
Holmes says no-one should under-estimate the pulling power of a winning team.
"The sponsors are happy, the fans keep coming back and it has a huge effect on the retaining, development and recruitment of players."
Overall, though, say Holmes, "the buck for performance stops at the top. You can't control certain things that happen on the rugby field, like injuries or the bounce of the ball, you just have to keep working hard and you have to have absolute faith in the people around you."
Life in the professional sporting world is never that far away from controversy, and Holmes provoked his share in 2003 when Wellington appealed against a New Zealand Rugby Union decision that only fined North Harbour for playing an illegal player (South African halfback Chad Alcock) against the Lions.
Wellington clearly sought the competition points from the match it lost against North Harbour to help get a home semi-final. It didn't get them, and not everyone was happy they even tried.
Some former leading players felt Wellington had broken rugby's "unwritten law" about the spirit of the game.
Holmes was unrepentant at the time, and says there was very little opposition to the move from inside the Wellington area.
"My recommendation to the board was that we had to go ahead with the appeal. Rugby is now a professional game and the professional arm has to be run like a business - and I can absolutely state the directors of the WRFU run it as such.
"We had a responsibility to the stakeholders to do this and make the appeal. It was a fundamental matter of principle - it's a common understanding through all first division unions that if a player is ineligible, then don't play him."
Holmes is happy he did the right thing. He has to make this business pay, and make it work. And it seems to be working.