The Scottish Mail on Sunday

Wales are calling for Humphreys

- By Alex Bywater

GLASGOW forwards coach Jonathan Humphreys is in line for a return to internatio­nal rugby after he emerged as the leading contender to take on a similar role with Wales after the 2019 World Cup.

Wayne Pivac will succeed Warren Gatland as Wales boss after the tournament in Japan and Stephen Jones — who he works with currently at the Scarlets — is set to join him as attack coach.

Pivac stated this week that he is close to finalising the coaching appointmen­ts around him and it can be revealed Humphreys has been sounded out about a forwards coaching role.

Sources have indicated a move for the highlyrate­d Warriors coach — who captained Wales on 19 occasions — is a ‘done deal’.

‘I’m well down the track in terms of what I want to do with the assistant coaches,’ said Wales coach-in-waiting Pivac.

‘We’re just revising when we are going to finalise that and then we will make it public.

‘We are not too far away I don’t think. It’s about getting what I believe is the best mix to do the job we want to do with Wales.’

Humphreys, the former hooker who captained both Cardiff and Bath and won 35 caps for Wales, certainly boasts a great deal of experience as a forwards coach.

After a successful playing career — one which included two World Cups — the Bridgend-born 49-year-old was forwards coach at his home region the Ospreys from 2006 to 2013.

In that time, he worked with current Wales captain Alun Wyn Jones and helped the Ospreys to three Celtic League titles.

In 2013, Humphreys took his first step into the Test arena, joining his former Ospreys boss Scott Johnson at Scotland.

He worked under Vern Cotter at BT Murrayfiel­d before leaving for Glasgow last season following Cotter’s departure for Montpellie­r.

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