Fiery Dragons rise for Ruddock

THE rugby world was taken by surprise when Wales appointed Mike Ruddock as their coach a year ago.

Llanelli Scarlets boss Gareth Jenkins had the job nailed down or so everyone thought but Welsh Rugby Union bosses turned instead to Ruddock, even though he didn't even apply. The rest, as they say, is history.

No one, not even the most optimistic Welsh supporter, could have envisaged that just 10 months after Ruddock's first game in charge a low-key friendly against the Barbarians at Bristol City's Ashton Gate ground Wales would be going for an RBS 6 Nations title and Grand Slam glory against Ireland tomorrow.

A glance, though, at 45-year-old Ruddock's coaching record, underlines his credentials as a born winner.

Ruddock's playing career was ended by an industrial accident at the age of 26, but he quickly took up a track-suited role with his hometown club Blaina in the Gwent Valleys, leading them to the 1986 Monmouthshire Championship title.

Small potatoes perhaps, yet during the next 10 years, he masterminded Swansea's 1995 Welsh League and Cup double, became Leinster's first professional coach Brian O'Driscoll and Malcolm O'Kelly were among the players he contracted and also enjoyed degrees of success with Ebbw Vale and Newport Gwent Dragons on his return to Wales.

And now, as Wales coach, he has instilled those same core values of hard work, accountability, belief, but perhaps above all enjoyment.

Off the field, Ruddock has effectively moulded an international team into a club side, such is the bond between players, coaches and management.

It is a feelgood factor which was observed with such acclaim by Lions supremo Sir Clive Woodward when he spent a week with Wales at their Vale of Glamorgan training base last autumn.

Slowly, but surely, Wales have climbed the ladder. Victory over Argentina in Buenos Aires last June was followed by narrow failures against New Zealand and South Africa, then came a priceless win against world champions England and a stunning triumph at France's expense in Paris. Ruddock's predecessor, New Zealander Steve Hansen, and his current right-hand man Scott Johnson might have laid the foundations, but Ruddock has not wasted time building an imposing structure. Former Wales flanker Mark Davies, who won three caps between 1981 and 1985 and is the national squad physiotherapist, has seen the revival take shape first-hand.

"If we recall, the side was fashioned by Steve Hansen and Scott Johnson, and Mike has come in with Clive (Griffiths) and added some finishing touches," said Davies.

"What they (Hansen and Johnson) tried to instil initially in the side was discipline and a feeling of togetherness as a team, and they could see the talent was there.

"They tried to instil the belief necessary to bring that talent out on to the field. They predicted, during the time they were together in charge of the team, big things for the side. Really, people looked at each other with disbelief, but gradually, the boys have adopted that self-belief.

"There is a deep vein of a team bond, of unity within the squad. It's something which you develop over the course of time," he added. "Mike has brought a steely quality to the side. It goes without saying that he's toughened things up, up-front, and he is very frank and honest with people in his man management-style, which has very much come across.

"To win any game, or a succession of games, you need to front-up, and Mike has been big in that area."

And as for the squad, Davies continued: "this group of players don't actually look back historically they don't carry that baggage.

"When you talk to them about the past, you quickly realise that a lot of them don't realise what was achieved before. To be honest with you, they haven't got historical interest that way.

"Most of them could pass a 1970s icon in the street and not recognise him. It was different when I played you were only too aware of the past."

For Wales and Ruddock though, it's now about the future. Potentially, it is a glorious one.