Football: Gareth's the man!

GARETH JENKINS is the man who should succeed Steve Hansen as Wales coach.

The advert has been placed, the debate is raging, but as far as I'm concerned there is really only one man for the job.

Gareth has been the outstanding coach in Welsh club rugby for the past decade, he commands huge respect both within Wales and outside, and he wants to do what he considers is the ultimate job.

There are other very able candidates, among whom Mike Ruddock is the best in my book.

But Mike is younger than Gareth and it would be far better for him to continue his coaching education within the new regional structure before taking the reins from Gareth in a few years' time.

If the true test of quality beneath international level is the Heineken Cup, then Gareth's achievements with Llanelli stand him head and shoulders above the competition.

Not only have his side carried the flag into the late stages of the tournament year after year, but they have regularly beaten some of the best teams in England and France and played great rugby along the way.

The astonishing thing about Gareth is that he has been coaching the Scarlets for 15 years and yet he still manages to motivate and inspire. That's very unusual in the professional era where players tend to quickly grow bored with the same face and voice.

Gareth has huge experience and the fact he was assistant to Wales coach Alan Davies a decade ago means he also knows the Test scene and the pressures that go with the top job.

It was interesting to note that the Welsh Rugby Union's job description demanded a good organiser who is computer- literate.

To me that reflects the impact Clive Woodward has made with England in conquering world rugby.

A few years ago New Zealand coaches were all the rage. Everyone had to have one. Wales had to have two.

Now it seems Woodward is the fashion leader. The buzz phrases are organisation, back-up teams and specialist coaches.

Woodward was impressed by the way American Football teams used lots of different specialist coaches for different aspects of the sport and has implemented a similar approach to English rugby.

So, England have defence coaches, kicking coaches, advisors for scrum and line-out. Above all the specialists and advisors stands Clive as a kind of overseer.

This kind of structure has been so successful for England that other sports have taken notice. Even the FA are known to have been impressed and there has been debate about whether the same template could be applied to English soccer.

Welsh rugby has gone a certain way down the specialist road under Steve Hansen, but we must remember that Woodward has hand-picked his own men like Andy Robinson, Phil Larder and Dave Alred.

The WRU have suggested their new man will not be able to do this. Instead, he will have to work with the existing coaching set-up.

I'm not at all sure that's a good idea - but I am sure that Gareth would find that a bit of a problem.

He is very much his own man. He can be stubborn and moody but he knows what he wants and who he believes in.

He would also be the first to admit that much of the success at Stradey Park in recent years is down to his right-hand man, Nigel Davies.

Knowing Gareth I would imagine he would definitely want Nigel to move into the same role with Wales - regardless of what the WRU try to dictate.

He might even want his other two coaches - Paul Moriarty and Wayne Proctor - to have an input, too.

Of course, all this could change now Graham Henry has been confirmed as the new coach of the All Blacks.

It would not surprise me in the slightest if Henry now appoints Hansen as his No.2 and tries to bring the rest of the Welsh coaching team - Scott Johnson and Andrew Hore - back to the southern hemisphere as well.

That might get the WRU off the hook and allow them to agree to Gareth naming his own men in one big shake-up after the Six Nations.

But I understand the Union's concerns on this one and they spring from recent history.

When Ron Waldron was Wales coach he was accused of being pro- Neath, his former club, and then Alex Evans was blamed for having a similar blind spot with allegiances to Cardiff.

Even Gareth himself had fingers pointed in his direction with claims his own Llanelli background was influencing Alan Davies's selections.

I hope the Welsh public is bigger than that and prepared to give the new man the benefit of the doubt - wherever he's from.

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