MIKE RUDDOCK spoke for the first time yesterday about his controversial departure as Wales coach and emphasised that he bore no grudges in the aftermath of one of the most unseemly incidents in the long, proud history of Welsh rugby. He said that he wanted only the best for the national team in the build-up to next year’s World Cup.
Under the terms of his settlement with the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU), Ruddock, who led Wales to their first grand slam in 27 years, was prevented from talking publicly until September 1. Now that time has passed, he has spoken exclusively to The Times about his hopes for the future and how he wants to move on from the worst period of his life.
Time has helped to heal the wounds and he sees little purpose in raking up the past or seeking recrimination against those he felt engineered his departure. Lucrative offers from publishers flooded in and Ruddock toyed with the idea of writing a book about the dramatic events that engulfed Wales during the RBS Six Nations Championship.
“Ultimately, though, I decided for everybody’s sake that it would be counter-productive,” Ruddock said. “Wales do not need distractions. Everyone’s focus and energy in the game should be directed towards next year’s World Cup.”
However, he will never forget the tumult that erupted after his shock resignation on Valentine’s night this year in the wake of a contractual dispute with the WRU and what was interpreted in some quarters as an orchestrated revolt against him led by Gareth Thomas, the captain, and other senior players who wanted Ruddock replaced by Scott Johnson, his deputy.
Advertisement
His departure, 48 hours after Wales had beaten Scotland in Cardiff, shook the country and polarised opinion. It beggars belief that a situation was allowed to develop that besmirched the image of Welsh rugby so soon after one of the country’s finest hours.
In helping to come to terms with the repercussions, Ruddock has adopted the same philosophy that helped him through another equally dark period in his life. In 1985, he was badly injured when falling from a ladder and fracturing his skull. His playing career was cut short. “It was a defining moment,” he said. “I was lying on the pavement with blood pouring out of my ears and with a fractured skull.
“I was determined that I would bounce back and think about the positives in life and I have had 20 years of success. I am looking to do exactly the same after a very difficult year. I want to be positive about the next 20 years.”
That could involve a return to full-time coaching, but not in the short term. Ruddock has committed himself for a year to working as a commercial development manager with Acorn Recruitment, Wales’s largest recruitment company, but will review his position thereafter.
It is not as if he has not had offers, two of which came from clubs in the Guinness Premiership. That, though, would have meant either uprooting his family at a crucial stage in the educational lives of two of his children, or living away from home. Neither was an option. The impact that the Wales coaching job had on his family life was one of the factors in his decision to walk away.
Advertisement
He has kept his hand in as assistant coach at Mumbles rugby club, working with his friend Huw Rees, the former Swansea player. His sons, Ciaran, 17, and Rhys, 15, who are with the Ospreys under-18 and under-16 squads, were developed by the club and it is his way of putting something back. “I made a conscious decision to stay out of top-class rugby for a year,” Ruddock said. “The boys are starting GCSEs and A levels and I want a period of stability for them and my daughter, Katie, who started senior school this week. It is also a chance to recharge my batteries.”
Bitterness and regrets he keeps to himself. Negativity is not on his agenda. “I have moved on,” he said. “All I want is for Wales to be successful. I have spoken with Gareth Jenkins [the new coach] and wish him all the best. I have two very constructive situations in my life with work and rugby. It has given me some good family time.”
Through the bad times this spring, when he felt exposed and alone, the support he received from the Welsh public buoyed his spirits. “I have had literally thousands of letters,” Ruddock said. “Some were simply addressed to Mike at Mumbles, others ‘The Wales coach, Mumbles’.”
At the end of last season he worked with Bob Dwyer, coaching the Barbarians. “That picked me up no end,” Ruddock said. “It was great working with Bob. It got my appetite back for rugby.”