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Dave Reddin(Image: Getty Images)<\/p>\nThe WRU are set to announce some high-profile appointments but there could be another one added to the mixDave Reddin(Image: Getty Images)<\/p>\n
The Welsh Rugby Union are considering introducing a rugby-focused appointment to act as a go-between alongside their new director of rugby and head coach.<\/p>\n
The WRU are set to announce their new director of rugby and head coach in the coming weeks, with Nigel Walker and Warren Gatland<\/a> having both left their roles during the current season. However, another new role could be introduced to fill in any potential gaps left by the upcoming appointments – essentially acting as an assistant to the director of rugby.<\/p>\n It’s currently unclear, after the lengthy process to find a suitable director of rugby, how the successful applicant for this potential role would be sourced, should they go ahead with it.<\/p>\n Dave Reddin, who has previously held roles with the RFU, Team GB and FA, is set to be announced as the new director of rugby – although it is currently unclear when his appointment will be made official.<\/p>\n However, having been Sir Clive Woodward’s fitness expert with England rugby team between 1997 and 2006, there is a perception that Reddin could be lacking in explicit rugby experience.<\/p>\n There is even understood to have been some pushback on Reddin’s appointment within the WRU over how suited he is to the job description posted for the director of rugby role.<\/p>\n While the job advert posted back in February called for the new director of rugby to help oversee “structural and strategic changes” across the professional game, there is also an understanding that a ‘genuine rugby person’ will be crucial to the role. Sign up to Inside Welsh rugby on Substack to get exclusive news stories and insight from behind the scenes in Welsh rugby.<\/a><\/p>\n Previously, as part of his contract, former head coach Gatland reported directly to the WRU’s chief executive – Steve Phillips to begin with, then current CEO Abi Tierney – rather than Walker as director of rugby.<\/p>\n Phillips didn’t last long in Gatland’s second reign – leaving before a Test match had even been played following claims of racism, sexism and homophobia within the Union.<\/p>\n As for Tierney, she remained fairly reluctant to dispense with Gatland throughout a winless 2024 – relying on the data sourced by an external consultancy firm, Portas.<\/p>\n However, the next head coach of Wales will answer to the director of rugby first and foremost.<\/p>\n As such, given the relative lack of rugby experience within the WRU – something the hierarchy have freely admitted in recent times – there could be a desire to create a new role to assist that relationship between director of rugby and head coach.<\/p>\n Wales’ search for a new head coach is continuing to progress.<\/p>\n Last week, WalesOnline exclusively revealed that Scotland defence coach Steve Tandy<\/a> is now the front-runner for the job, having impressed during his six years with Gregor Townsend’s side.<\/p>\n It’s understood that it is looking increasingly likely that Tandy, along with Harlequins coach Danny Wilson as forwards coach, will take charge of Wales in Japan this summer.<\/p>\n Cardiff<\/a> coach Matt Sherratt, who took charge of Wales on an interim basis in the Six Nations<\/a> following Gatland’s departure, is also understood to be wanted by the WRU for the Japan tour as attack coach. However, it’s unclear whether that is just on a temporary basis – like his Six Nations secondment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The WRU are set to announce some high-profile appointments but there could be another one added to the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":25379,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5010],"tags":[748,4884,16,15,1764,14260,14261],"class_list":{"0":"post-25378","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wales","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-great-britain","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-wales","13":"tag-wales-rugby-team","14":"tag-welsh-rugby-union"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114348951195270063","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25378","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25378"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25378\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25379"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25378"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25378"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25378"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}