Ruddock on Wales, trophies and the accident that has shaped his career
MIKE Ruddock is one of the most successful Welsh rugby coaches in history.
His win record of 65% during 20 matches in charge of the national team is unrivalled over the past 27 years, and the Grand Slam he delivered in 2005 will forever rank among the nation’s greatest sporting achievements.
Yet, at the age of 58, Ruddock has not worked in this country for more than a decade. Out of sight then, but certainly not out of the winning habit.
The quadruple of triumphs he engineered for Irish club Lansdowne last season took his career haul of trophies as a coach to an incredible 16.
Among them are two Welsh League titles, Welsh Cup glory and an Ireland Inter-Provincial Championship with Leinster.
Not bad for a bloke who only got into coaching by accident.
Ruddock was just 26 and on the brink of full Wales honours as a hardtackling blindside flanker when his world was literally turned upside down.
Working as a linesman for the South Wales Electricity Board, he was knocked off a ladder by a passing highsided lorry in Nantyglo in September, 1985.
He suffered a fractured skull and three fractured vertebrae in his back. He also lost the hearing in one ear permanently.
“For years after the accident I had terrible problems with my balance and was told by the specialist my playing career was over,” said Ruddock.
“The coach of my hometown club Blaina, Steve ‘Snicker’ Jones, asked me if I’d do some stuff with their forwards, so I did.
“‘Snicker’ left for Cross Keys at the end of the season so the club asked me if I’d take over. We lost our first four games and the club gave me a ‘yellowcard.’ I called a meeting with the players and they told me they needed to be worked harder in training to get them fitter rather than concentrating so much on skills and the technical side.
“It was a bit of a lesson which I’ve taken all the way through my career. I listened to the players and we didn’t lose another league game that season, ending up winning the Monmouthshire title and the following campaign lifted the Ben Francis Cup.”
Ruddock would later take over from Jones at Cross Keys as his coaching reputation began to grow, but his new role was not without difficulties.
“The club was near being bankrupt and needed somebody a bit green to come in because no-one else would touch it.
“For me it was a chance to coach in the Merit Table, which was the ultimate in Wales back then. I took a few Blaina boys with me and Keys set a tryscoring record.
“We beat Newport, Llanelli, Pontypridd and Swansea, among others, and as a consequence, Swansea’s Roger Blyth offered me a chance to become their coach.”
A reputation cemented in Swansea...
Ruddock didn’t take up the offer at that time because he’d already agreed to join Irish club Bective Rangers – his wife Bernadette was from Dublin and wanted to return to her home country.
“Johnny Sexton’s father was involved and Johnny used to be running around the place. Bective was a really down to earth club and the great Welsh and Lions outside-half Cliff Morgan had played for them.
“They hadn’t won the prestigious Leinster Cup since 1955 but we managed it that season and Swansea contacted me again after finishing last but one in the inaugural Welsh League season of 1989-90.
“So I took it on and we won the league during my first season.
“The first thing I do when I take a job is look at the players. I knew the Swansea mentality, it being my former club, and that the backs were fantastically talented but we needed to get the scrum on track and acquire a physical mindset.
“I asked around who was the toughest hooker in Welsh rugby and word came back it was Pontypool’s Garin Jenkins. I found out he lived at Roberts Street, Ynysbwl, so went and knocked on his door.
He agreed to play for Swansea and was fantastic for the club. We brought Aled Williams in at outside-half and a young Scott Gibbs also came along from Neath.
“Scott was into cars and we thought we’d have to get him a Ford Sierra Cosworth but all it cost to get him onboard was a cup of coffee.
“We lost our first game against Llanelli and the headline in Wales on Sunday was “Super flops”.
I cut it out and put it on the noticeboard as a motivator.
“Swansea hadn’t beaten Llanelli in about 11 years and the destiny of the league eventually came down to a shoot-out between us.
“It was the good old days with a full house and people climbing trees so they could watch the game. We managed to beat them and the following week picked up the title by winning at Newport.”
Family worry...
Ruddock had one of the scariest times of his life before the final when his then young son Rhys, who has gone on to captain Ireland and Leinster, went down with meningitis.
“Bernadette was travelling back to Swansea from Hereford by train when Rhys became unwell with his condition deteriorating. Passengers said ‘take him to the doctor when you get home’ but she had a mother’s intuition and got off in Cardiff and rushed him to the Royal Infirmary Hospital.
“He was diagnosed with meningitis and successfully treated. If Bernadette hadn’t stepped off that train who knows what would have happened? It certainly put rugby in perspective.”
Ruddock’s coaching career would continue to grow, eventually taking him to Ireland.
Leinster head-hunted Ruddock and he coached them between 1997-2000, overseeing the introduction of a certain Brian O’Driscoll, Shane Horgan and Gordon D’Arcy, among others.
“It was a bit of a step back in time initially, with the game having just gone professional and players in Ireland being offered parttime contracts of 7,500 euros a year.
“Leinster were a franchise of the Irish Rugby Union with very limited assets at that time and I initially was the only coach.
“When it came to training hardly any players were lifting weights apart from pints of Guinness. We had to find a gym for them to train in but we did finish my first season having won the Irish Inter-Provincial title.
“Warren Gatland was Connacht coach, while Declan Kidney was heading up Munster, who were the dominant force in Ireland during that period.
“We did the double over Leicester Tigers in Europe and beat Stade Francais, starting to draw big crowds for Friday night matches. At that time, nobody watched provincial rugby on Saturday’s because of Gaelic football. “Terry Cobner, who was the Welsh Rugby Union’s technical director, was impressed. He had seen us beat Leicester and offered me the chance to become coach of Wales A and Ebbw Vale. “I had three seasons with the Steelmen. We reached a Welsh Cup semifinal and a quarter-final in the European Challenge Cup but didn’t really hit the heights I wanted. “My role with Wales A went extremely well. While the senior team were struggling we were winning games and I got the chance to coach the Dragons when Welsh rugby went regional in 2003. “People called us rejects. Nobody rated or respected us which helped us build a siege mentality. It worked for us and we started winning. The players wanted to prove people wrong and were fantastic.
The Wales appointment...
That success would lead to the moment that stunned many in rugby and set Ruddock down a path that would bring him the greatest glory and the biggest controversy of his career.
Steve Hansen hadn’t been offered a contract extension by the WRU, with Llanelli coach Gareth Jenkins seemingly certain to replace him as Wales coach. Ruddock hadn’t applied for the role and was not in the reckoning.
“I was enjoying what I was doing at the Dragons and I knew the new coach wouldn’t be in a position to bring in his own coaching staff,” he said.
“Terry (Cobner) turned up out of the blue at Dragons training and asked if I’d reconsider and apply. So I did and I got the job.
People called us rejects. Nobody rated us which helped us build a seige mentality Mike Ruddock on coaching the Dragons
“Hansen hadn’t been too keen on Clive Griiffiths as Wales defence coach but I wanted Clive in my set-up.
“Whether it was that or something else, I don’t think, as a management group, we really gelled, which was a shame because everyone in that group was superb at what they did.
“I didn’t want to change the attack because Scott Johnson was doing a fantastic job but wanted to shore up the defence because Wales had been conceding too many tries and the set-piece needed improving with there having being a fault line at the scrum.
“Hansen had been picking Michael Owen out of position at lock and Gavin Thomas, who was a flanker, at No.8, giving Adam Jones 30 minutes at prop and bringing on loosehead Gethin Jenkins at tighthead.
“Michael was a footballer so I picked him at eight and gave him a licence to use his playing skills. I brought Gavin Henson in at No.12, which I still feel is his best position, made Gareth Thomas captain and Michael vice-captain because both were very positive characters.”
Wales lost autumn matches against South Africa and New Zealand by a combined total of just three points, but they were ready for the Six Nations.
The weeks that followed in February and March of 2005 lifted a nation as England, Italy, France, Scotland and finally Ireland were all beaten. Remarkably, Wales had won the Grand Slam for the first time in 27 years. Australia were also beaten the following autumn, a result that prompted the dismissal of then Wallabies coach Eddie Jones.
“Poor old Eddie got the sack, which just goes to show how the fickle the coaching world is,” laughs Ruddock now.
“He would soon become aware of how quickly things can unravel.
Barely two months after receiving an OBE for delivering the Grand Slam, Ruddock was gone amid rumours of player unrest and a lack of support from the WRU. There were suggestions some believed Ruddock had taken too much credit for the team’s achievement, while there were also accusations his influence on the side was limited.
Since that time, the likes of Adam Jones, have described Ruddock as a great coach and humble man.
Ruddock, though, has always refused to lay any blame on his players. He does, however, reveal, it was not his decision to walk away in the middle of a Six Nations campaign.
“After we won the Grand Slam, Steve Lewis asked me to sign a contract extension,” he said.
“I agreed but asked for some minor amendments but it never got resolved and I was told, on the eve of the 2006 Six Nations, the WRU was pulling out of contract negotiations. I took that as a vote of no confidence and wasn’t happy with the situation.
“There was also a few other things going on in the background within the management team. “It was a difficult time but I had magnificent support from the Welsh public.”
Life after Wales...
In the years that followed his departure, Ruddock had a stint working for Acorn Recruitment and helped Mumbles win Division Three south-west before spending three seasons as director of rugby at Worcester Warriors in the English Premiership.
They reached the final of the European Challenge Cup but that was as good as it got with Ruddock leaving in 2010 to become coach of Ireland Under-20 and Dublin club Lansdowne. He guided Ireland U20 into the top four in the world during his four seasons in charge, following victories over England, South Africa, Australia and France, while Lansdowne last season completed a a quadruple of triumphs to take his career haul of trophies to 16.