Ryan determined to make desperate Dragons a force to fear
Coach is relishing task of reviving Wales’ worst side after turbulent spell at RFU, writes Ben Coles
The first thing to note is how content Dean Ryan seems, sitting in one of the meeting rooms at the Dragons training base in Ystrad Mynach. “Being an Englishman driving across into the Valleys every morning, I thought it might be lively, but I have never felt more welcome,” he says. “It is probably the most enjoyment I have had coming to work.”
You could say the opposite about his time as head of international player development with the Rugby Football Union, which came to an end last May.
Ryan had been tasked with revamping the pathway between schools rugby and the England side, unifying the various agegrade programmes. He was dragged over the coals for his decision to axe popular England Under-18 coaches John Fletcher and Peter Walton, who had been revered for helping develop most of the England team who played in last year’s Rugby World Cup final. Martin Haag, the Under-20 World Championship winning coach, was another to depart.
Ryan, however, has no regrets. Jim Mallinder, his successor, tellingly followed him out of the door in August to become the Scottish
Rugby Union’s performance director.
The whole age-grade operation, designed to nurture the next generation of stars, has been squeezed.
“I do not shy away from things that need dealing with if I think they are right. I never have. Lots of people in governing bodies do [shy away], because that allows them to stay in there for longer. That is why I went to the RFU, to challenge what was being done, to challenge the way they make decisions. I never expected everyone to like what I did,” Ryan says.
“[The sackings of Fletcher and Walton] were difficult decisions, but they were well thought through and had a wider impact than just myself. It was a challenge for me. A lot of people would have said, ‘Dean Ryan and a governing body? No chance’. But I actually did enjoy it, I just became frustrated with the timing and money, what they prioritised over what I prioritised. Lots of things had gone by the end, including the trust to invest yourself emotionally in something.”
That sense of disillusionment hung over the final months of his roles in charge of Gloucester and Worcester Warriors in the Gallagher Premiership, with changes of ownership at both clubs signalling the end.
With Gloucester, his first role as head coach from 2005 to 2009, he ended up biting his lip to stay in the job. “I knew the changes that were happening at Gloucester were going to take us from being a top side, to not being a top club. But, to be honest at this stage, I was probably scared of being unemployed, and probably compromised some of my opinions to stay employed. I swore I would never do it again.”
He was as good as his word at Worcester. Cecil Duckworth stepping down from his role as executive chairman rang alarm bells. Ryan hails Duckworth as “one of the best people I have worked with” and the feeling seems mutual, with Duckworth billing Ryan back in 2015 as “one of the top six directors of rugby in the world”. With Duckworth’s departure, the club’s vision changed. “I brought Ben Te’o to Sixways from Leinster. Then, six months later, I was trying to sell him because Worcester could not afford the wages,” Ryan reveals. “I brought a lot of people to Worcester promising things, what the future would look like, and somebody changed what that future would look like and I did not believe in it. I was not prepared to stay at the front and pretend. I do not think you can do that.” Which is why he is so intent that his time at Dragons will be different. Ryan is the head coach but also a board member, offering widespread input on how to change the fortunes of a desperate side, who have managed only once to win 10 league matches in a season since 2005. Ryan is their fifth head coach in as many years.
Describing it as an overhaul barely scrapes the surface. Ryan is trying to rewire the region’s structures, to rejuvenate an organisation that had almost become a laughing stock. Finances are thin, with the Dragons bankrolled by the Welsh Rugby Union, but given the climate, Ryan admits: “If we had a load of money, we would not be able to convince the right people to come here.”
His main focus is on improving
‘I do not shy away from things that need dealing with’
the players available to him by installing the right structures around them, and then keeping them at the region, such as back row Ollie Griffiths. There are good signs. Having five players in Wayne Pivac’s Wales squad for the Six Nations, including the outstanding Aaron Wainwright, is a start, while youngsters Taine Basham and Will Talbot-davies have shown promise.
“Players only ever ask to be in an environment where they are being challenged to get better,” Ryan says. “The money we were getting, it is just mad to say how many
games you are going to win and what you are going to promise, because those are not the issues. The issues are how do we get more money, create more stability, make this a place where we can get better? We [Ryan and executive chairman David Buttress] both talked at length about myself going onto the board, which might seem bizarre at other clubs; how I could get my experiences into other rooms, other areas off the pitch, as well as adding some security and stability.
“I get a lot of excitement about managing change, linking where we are to a point in the future, getting people to believe in that.
“It can be pretty hard to identify good sometimes in a place that is not going well. People’s perception is that everything must be rubbish – but that is not true. There are some really good people here who deserve more support and recognition. But you cannot just demand it, you have to build it.”
It is, frankly, an enormous challenge, but one that Ryan has embraced wholeheartedly and seems to be relishing, after a fractious ending to his time with the RFU.