CHANGES HAVE TO BE MADE, INSISTS SCARLETS CHIEF
SCARLETS executive chairman Simon Muderack insists the appointment of a topclass rugby performance director will help get the Welsh club back on track after a torrid season
The Scarlets have endured a disappointing season which has resulted in just three wins up to this weekend.
In order to give themselves the best chance of turning things around the Scarlets have announced a significant shake-up of their rugby operation, with the search for a new rugby performance director to work alongside head coach Dwayne Peel having already began.
Muderack also revealed the Professional Rugby Board are working hard to create a model which gives the regions a chance of on-field success but he insists significant change must happen.
He also addresses the future of influential Scarlets pair Sam Lousi and Vaea Fifita along with his longterm plans for the club.
Here’s everything Muderack had to say as he sat down with rugby correspondent
STEFFAN THOMAS.
WHY HAVE YOU FELT THE NEED TO MAKE THESE CHANGES?
“SO there’s two things. One is we are looking to attract or bring more talent into our rugby performance programme to support Dwayne.
“This will allow Dwayne to focus on coaching the first XV and to spend more time on the grass. I want to bring somebody into the club who can really help the overall organisation take a longer-term view of rugby performance, drive the standards and the culture of the rugby environment, help us continue to improve our recruitment and retention while also making sure we continue to evolve as a rugby programme overall.
“So, this person’s responsibility will be broader than the first XV. It will be across all aspects of our rugby programme.
“We often forget how broad that is. We’ve got the pathway, the age grade, we’ve got the relationship across the community which we are looking to continue to deepen and we’ve got a relationship with our two EDC clubs (Carmarthen Quins and Llandovery) which is very important to us.
“We’ve also got the women’s programme and we’ve also got inclusive rugby so it really is across the whole business. Clearly the performance of the first XV will ultimately drive success of the organisation and is what everyone wants to hear the most about on a week-to-week basis and rest assured that is very important to us.
“Overall rugby performance around the entire environment does ultimately support a happy, successful, prosperous and ultimately victorious club. The other reason for the change is to get more bandwidth across the commercial and operational side of the business.
“There are things we need to get back to doing which in some instances we’ve not done since before Covid. Also, we need to run a bigger, broader business than just putting on game days every couple of weeks.
“We’ve got a phenomenal asset in the stadium and the barn which we want to continue to increase revenue and opportunity from. We have really ramped up our community foundation programmes over the past 12 months.
“We think there’s more that we can continue to do there and also find a way to invest in our infrastructure and facilities. We want to drive more revenues in the long run.
“We need to do a better job in communicating in more relevant and real time ways so in other words doing a better job of engagement with fans and stakeholders all across the map.”
WILL THE RUGBY PERFORMANCE DIRECTOR SIT ABOVE DWAYNE? “DWAYNE still has a direct approach to the board because ultimately he does need to be responsible on a week-to-week basis for the performance of the first XV. But this person will have responsibility across all of our rugby programmes.”
Will the performance director have the final say on things like recruitment, retention and selecting the team?
“So, the way selection works is there is a selection meeting which gets chaired. The performance director will chair those selection meetings.
“Ultimately Dwayne has a responsibility for the first XV on a Monday to a Saturday basis but this person will have heavy input into the selection of the team. Ultimately the material that comes available for consideration for successful this person over time will have more and more influence over what’s coming through and the machinery which will be available to the first XV selection.”
SOME PEOPLE WOULD SAY THIS
IS A CASE OF REARRANGING THE DECK CHAIRS ON THE TITANIC BECAUSE THE SAME PEOPLE ARE INVOLVED AT THE CLUB. WHAT DO YOU SAY TO THAT? “PEOPLE think this is an excuse but across club rugby as a whole, not just in Wales, there are challenges. To a certain extent when people talk about the analogy with the Titanic there is a challenge within the world of rugby.
“To be fair to people who involved, those are the sets of are cir