Ospreys stepping up hunt for coach

DID SWANS TAME THE TIGERS LAST NIGHT? PLUS CAN BLUEBIRDS CONTINUE TOP-SIX PUSH AGAINST WIGAN?

The Ospreys will continue their hunt for a new head coach amid mounting speculation linking Dai Young to the Liberty.

The Welsh region have drawn up a list of potential targets that’s believed to include the names of Ulster attack coach Dwayne Peel and New Zealander Ben Herring.

Another coach who has worked in the English Premiership has also been spoken to.

But the Western Mail understands no direct contact has been made with former Wales skipper Young as of this point.

There have been more than 50 enquiries about the job with the Ospreys narrowing the field to 20 and then further cutting to those considered exceptionally strong candidates.

Rumours that Young could be set for a call surfaced within hours of the news earlier this week that Wasps’ long-serving director of rugby was stepping back from first-team duties for an interim period.

The RugbyPass website has since reported that “Young could be a real possibility to take over at struggling PRO14 side Ospreys”.

Liked and respected throughout the game, the former Wales and Lions prop does have links with the region, having played for Swansea RFC on 42 occasions between 1985 and 1988, winning his first Wales cap from the club at the inaugural World Cup.

He is contracted to Wasps until 2023. Long viewed as a potential Wales coach, the 52-year-old has vast experience and an element of uncertainty surrounds what happened at Wasps in recent days. But it is more than probable a reputation built up over close on 17 years as a team boss will comfortably survive this week’s events.

That said, the Ospreys are looking for a head coach rather than a director of rugby, though Mike Ruddock’s arrangement as performance director at the region currently only lasts until the end of the season.

Whether the Ospreys have spoken to Young’s agent is unclear but they haven’t talked directly with the three-times Lions tourist.

The word from the Llandarcybased region is that they will continue with the process they have been undertaking.

So far they have been happy with the quality of the people they’ve spoken to.

Once they do decide on Allen Clarke’s direct successor they can then start building a coaching team around him, with attack and defence roles to be filled at the Liberty.

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