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Three new jobs have been advertised ahead of this summer’s Nations Championship
The Welsh Rugby Union have advertised three coaching jobs to complete Steve Tandy’s staff ahead of the summer.
Tandy has been working with just a couple of full-time staff since taking over from Warren Gatland last year, with attack coach Matt Sherratt and forwards coach Danny Wilson the only permanent members of his ticket. The other roles have been filled on a temporary basis during his first two campaigns.
Dan Lydiate helped out with defence, Rhys Patchell looked after kicking and both Duncan Jones and Paul James dealt with the scrum.
Wales have already appointed a full-time defence coach to assist Tandy ahead of this summer’s maiden Nations Championship, with former Scotland full-back Peter Murchie taking on that role.
Filling the rest of the roles in the coaching staff is now the Welsh Rugby Union’s priority – with three roles having been advertised by the governing body.
Listings for a kicking coach, scrum coach and attacking skills coach have been posted – with all three set to close on May 5.
The kicking and attacking skills jobs should then have interviews later that same week, while the scrum coach interviews are likely to take place towards the end of next month.
All three jobs are full-time roles, each sharing the same ‘strategic alignment’ by the WRU.
“Our ambitions are to take Welsh Rugby back to the top; the Men’s senior team to consistently rank in the Top 5 in the world and compete for honours annually in the Six Nations and the later stages of Rugby World Cups,” reads the strategic alignment.
“To support this, we want consistently competitive clubs that challenge in the play-offs of their competitions. To support both goals, we want to develop an aligned Welsh rugby DNA with innovative, effective pathways and processes that provide more and better players for the professional and international game.”
The assumption would be that they would work with the national team during international windows, before offering their skills elsewhere in Welsh rugby – be it with the clubs and age-grade sides – beyond that to increase alignment.
Former Wales and Lions tighthead Adam Jones would be an obvious candidate for the scrum coach role, having worked with Wales as a consultant last year on secondment from Harlequins.
It’s no secret Jones wants to coach Wales at some point, either.
His ‘Hairbear’ namesake Duncan Jones would also be a contender, as would James – having impressed the players after coming into the Six Nations this year at short notice.
In terms of the kicking coach, Patchell has just joined Benetton as attack coach for next season – ruling him out of the running.
Neil Jenkins is currently still employed by the WRU, but a return to the coaching ticket of the national team seems unlikely.
Leigh Halfpenny, having served as kicking coach on the summer tour last July, could be an option.
However, it’s still unclear whether he will continue to play next season – despite only featuring twice for Cardiff this season. The Arms Park club have hinted they would like to keep the full-back around, either as a player or coach.
As for the attacking skills coach job, it will be interesting to see who emerges as an assistant to Sherratt.
It’s understood the WRU had previously considered other skill coaching roles to work not only with the national team, but also the four professional clubs – such as a throwing coach for hookers.
However, it’s not clear if that remains on the table.
There is greater alignment with Wales’ coaches and the clubs, though. Camps have been running throughout the season.
Just a couple of weeks ago, Wales’ hookers spent an evening working with Wilson.
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