There’s less than two months until Wales’ first match of the autumn
New Wales head coach Steve Tandy at the Principality Stadium (Image: Huw Evans Picture Agency Ltd)
Just under two weeks into the job officially and Steve Tandy has already secured his first appointment.
Danny Wilson will finish up with Harlequins after this weekend, once he has taken charge of Quins’ first match of the season – and the last of his reign. Following the PREM Cup clash with Newcastle Red Bulls on Friday night, Wilson will become the first part of Tandy’s Wales coaching ticket.
There are more to come in the coming weeks.
Wales take on Argentina in just under two months, with just one of the seats next to Tandy now filled. With someone to look after line-out and contact areas, Tandy will now turn his attention to the rest of his coaching team.
The suggestion when he was appointed was that there would be continuity from the summer’s coaching team in Japan, with Wilson the first step towards that.
The interview process has already started for the coaching roles. WalesOnline understands that some close to the process have questioned whether interviews are necessary, given the familiarity of the WRU with many of the targets in terms of working in previous campaigns.
Wilson’s role with Wales has been tied up now, with the timing being a necessity as Quins prepare to start their season.
However, some of Wales’ other targets remain in contract at other clubs – with their own futures less clear.
For example, Cardiff coach Matt Sherratt is another name to have been linked heavily with Tandy’s backroom staff.
Sherratt took interim charge of Wales in the latter part of the Six Nations, before leading them in Japan as Wales finally ended their lengthy 18-Test losing streak.
Now back at Cardiff, Sherratt is focused on his third season in charge of the Arms Park side.
However, the links to Wales’ attack coach job remain – with Cardiff likely to need just as much heads-up on their head coach as Harlequins.
With Lee Blackett seemingly set to land a job with England, Bath will be on the lookout for an attack coach – with Sherratt’s name having already been tentatively mentioned in dispatches for that.
Leaving Cardiff in the right manner – if that is what is to happen next – will be crucial for Sherratt, given his strong ties with the club.
Finishing what he has started, having taken charge of the club following financial difficulties that saw them start pre-season a couple of years ago with just a handful of players, will undoubtedly be a factor.
Despite the WRU owning Cardiff after they went into administration earlier in the year, a job share seems a difficult tightrope to tread this season – meaning time is ticking on that front.
Of course, the WRU have insisted since Tandy’s appointment that interim coaches are a possibility – with that seeming a strong likelihood at this stage.
Other coaches present in the summer who would likely be targeted, like Harlequins’ scrum coach Adam Jones and Gloucester’s forward skills T. Rhys Thomas, are contracted with Gallagher PREM clubs at the minute and getting them out of their roles would involve a payout.
In the case of Jones, convincing Harlequins to let go of a second coach so soon after Wilson could take some doing.
The other coach in Japan, Leigh Halfpenny, spent the summer taking his first real steps into the world of coaching – looking after skills and kicking.
However, the 36-year-old – who was training with Cardiff last week – is still understood to harbour a desire to keep on playing.
That could come at the Arms Park or elsewhere. What it would mean for a kicking coach remains unclear.
Neil Jenkins is still employed by the WRU, so could easily step back into the role, but he wasn’t taken to Japan in the summer so that would have to be smoothed over first.
Finally, despite Tandy’s speciality being defence, there’s a decent chance he will look to get a defence coach to work with him – such is the workload of the head coach role.
Cardiff coach Gethin Jenkins looked after the defence in the summer. Tandy is understood to have already spoken to the former Wales prop since starting in his role, but that wouldn’t necessarily have concerned a job vacancy – with Tandy likely to be keen to understand how the summer tour went.
Ospreys head coach Mark Jones had been approached to be part of Wales’ summer coaching staff, given his experience as a defence coach, but the mid Walian wanted to focus on his first full pre-season with the Ospreys.