Former Wales head coach Mike Ruddock has taken on a technical adviser role at South Gower RFC, working with the forwards and defence and providing experience to a coaching team led by Josh Humphreys and director of rugby Andy Moore. The move brings one of Welsh rugby's most experienced coaches back into the community game and to a club he already knows well.
Return to the Club Where His Sons Started
Ruddock's two sons, Ciaran and Rhys, both played their early rugby at South Gower. "My links with South Gower go back a long way because my two sons, Ciaran and Rhys, both played rugby there," Ruddock tells WalesOnline. "They helped my boys fall in love with rugby. In fact I was very conscious not to push them into rugby and actually took them to play soccer."
"I asked them after the first training session if they enjoyed it and they said 'yes dad we enjoyed it but can you take us to rugby next week?' It was very much their choice to get into rugby. So, South Gower is where they started, before they played age grade at Mumbles RFC."
"We had many a happy day over there watching them play and they progressed into their careers. I've also coached at Mumbles when we won Division Three South West. We've both got an allegiance to our local community clubs who have been great in helping to nurture and develop our two sons. It's nice that I was able to give something back to Mumbles and it's now nice I will be to give something back to South Gower."
Those careers would eventually take his sons far beyond South Gower. Ciaran captained Ireland U20s before making a handful of appearances for Leinster. He later moved into strength and conditioning, joining the Ireland set-up and is now part of Andy Farrell's backroom team. Rhys enjoyed an outstanding playing career, making 225 appearances for Leinster and winning 27 Ireland caps, including appearances at two Rugby World Cups. His daughter, Katie, was also a successful athlete representing the Ireland U19s netball team.
A Return Driven by Friendship and Family
Ruddock's return to South Gower came about through his old friend Moore, the former Wales lock who he signed for Swansea almost 30 years ago. His most recent involvement in the professional game was as a non-executive director with the Ospreys, but after 35 consecutive seasons as a coach, Ruddock felt the time had come to step away. There was also a deeply personal reason for that decision, with his daughter Katie diagnosed with cancer shortly before her 30th birthday.
"I stood down as a director because my daughter unfortunately got diagnosed with cancer just before her 30th birthday," he said. "This last year has all been about supporting our daughter Katie who has just had her own baby as well. Thankfully things are moving in the right direction but it was important for me to step away from everything to support her and her baby. It was a very difficult year for everyone in my family. I coached for 35 consecutive seasons and was pretty burnt out."
After a year away from rugby, Ruddock was not actively looking to return but Moore's approach changed his mind. "I came back to help the Ospreys and to try to get them in a good position," he said. "I recruited Toby Booth and tried to put some systems in there but it was time for me to take a break from rugby. Suddenly after a year of not being involved in rugby I wasn't really thinking about getting back in it but what turned my head is a young player I brought to Swansea wanted to get me back involved."
"That was nice to hear and I thought this will probably be my last job in rugby so how good would it be to spend it at a local community club as a volunteer, working with people I've worked with before and who I've got a good relationship with? Hopefully, if I can help some of those younger players to improve, that would be a positive time for me after being a head coach for 35 years."
Building on Success and Developing Talent
South Gower have enjoyed two successive promotions and are now in Division Two West Central, while their youth section has established itself as one of the most successful in the region. Their youth side have won the Ospreys Cup four years running and the league three times, while the club has produced a number of talented players including England U20s centre Will Moore, Wales U20s wing Evan Morris, former Ospreys lock James Fender and Wales U18s back-rower Noah Williams.
For Ruddock, the player pathway is one of the most appealing aspects of the job. "Andy Moore and the coaches before have put a good strong pathway in place," said Ruddock. "Andy will tell you they won the Ospreys age grade youth cup for four or five years on the trot, so they produce a lot of talent. The youth train on the pitch next to us and they seem to have good numbers. Swansea has always been a strong rugby area and there's plenty of talent around Wales. Whatever is done in the future it's important all those pathways are maximised."
His time in Ireland, first with the Ireland U20s and later at Lansdowne RFC, gave him an insight into a player-development system which has produced a remarkable generation of international players. At Lansdowne he worked with players including Dan Sheehan, Ronan Kelleher, Tadhg Beirne, James Ryan, Jordy Murphy, Marty Moore and John Cooney. He also coached Tadhg Furlong, Iain Henderson, Jack Conan, Gary Ringrose, Robbie Henshaw and Josh van der Flier during his time with Ireland U20s.
"In Ireland one of the reasons Leinster are so strong is that the fee-paying schools are all rugby," said Ruddock. "On Wednesday afternoon it is about rugby and there are no lessons. You might get 200 kids out at Blackrock College and St Mary's College and many more. My son Rhys is now head coach at Lansdowne and he also works at Newbridge College. The colleges are very rugby-focused. It's a tradition that everyone trains on a Wednesday afternoon. They'll have other trainings Mondays, Tuesday's and Fridays but there's no lessons on Wednesday afternoon and everyone is out. They have five or six teams per year group. The standard is high and the coaching is excellent with a lot of ex-internationals in there are directors of rugby and coaches. Other schools like national schools would be playing Gaelic football and hurling. From what I can see here not all the schools are playing rugby in the same way they used to. Some do and some don't. There's more of a pathway around clubs so that's the difference for me."
That makes the role of clubs such as South Gower even more important, in Ruddock's view. If Wales does not have the same school-based rugby structure as Ireland, clubs have to make sure their own pathways are strong enough to give talented players the chance to progress. And Ruddock believes South Gower has already laid the foundations.
"When I was a head coach in the pro game my main focus was to try to get results on the field and very often developing players wasn't the main priority because you had to walk into the boardroom and outline your results to the chairman," he added, "The beauty of my role is even though we want to win I don't have to worry as much about selection or results but I see a big part of my role being player development. We've got big plans to develop the club. We haven't got a gym on site and I think in the modern game that's something we need. So, we are going to work as a club to try to get a gym in place. We've just put a new container to store all our kit which was being held in a building we could now convert into a gym. The local gym, The Langrove, has agreed to donate some equipment. In conjunction with those sorts of changes we can now start to develop better, stronger and faster athletes. We can coach them in a way which hopefully allows them to accelerate their development and go further up the levels. I think that's absolutely vital. The level of investment we get through the gate and through sponsorship that's where I'd like to see us prioritise. I think we need to build a gym and develop better athletes because that's how I think the clubs can help Wales and the senior team. The better the facility we've got at every club the better chance we've got of developing better athletes. I want to set up some systems, some coaching themes and principles that will help some of those guys come through and kick on."
A Career of Highs and a Focus on the Future
Ruddock has seen first-hand what can happen when young players are given the right environment. When he coached Leinster, he gave Brian O'Driscoll his first professional contract, along with other future Irish Internationals like Gordon Darcy, Shane Hogan and current Leinster coach, Leo Cullen. His final coaching role in Ireland came at Lansdowne, where he won three All Ireland League titles in seven seasons.
"So, the last two hookers I coached at Lansdowne were Dan Sheehan and Ronan Kelleher who were straight out of the academy," he continued. "I had Tadhg Beirne at Lansdowne, James Ryan, Max Deegan, Jordy Murphy, Marty Moore and John Cooney. We had so many good players coming through and half of Connacht eventually came from Lansdowne."
One of those players was Beirne, whose career took a major turn after he was released by Leinster. "I remember when Tadhg Beirne got released by Leinster he asked me if I could be a reference on his CV and I said yes," he recalls. "Wayne Pivac from the Scarlets rang me up and said 'I see your name on his CV, tell me about him'. I said 'if I was you Wayne I'd sign him then give me a ring back and I'll tell you all about him'. I knew he had a lot of potential but I didn't know he'd become the player he became. But you could definitely see he was a really good athlete."
Now Ruddock wants to use that experience to help the players coming through at South Gower. There is also the prospect of a local derby that promises to put the club firmly in the spotlight. Mumbles have Wales greats Alun Wyn Jones and James Hook among their coaching team, setting up an intriguing meeting between the two clubs.
"It's the big rivalry and everyone is talking about it at the moment," he said. "It's all good banter. I went to watch it last year at South Gower and it took me 15 minutes of queuing to get in so I missed the first 20 minutes of the game. I'm assuming it will generate a similar interest again this season. Isn't that great? Welsh rugby has its challenges so it is nice to have that sort of interest in the community game. I am looking forward to that but I'm concentrating on our first game at the moment."
For Ruddock, that community element is a major part of South Gower's appeal. "The rugby club was traditionally the hub of the community and that is most certainly the case with South Gower," he added. "Bishopston is the village South Gower RFC is in and it is very much a focal point of the community. It's a really nice and enjoyable vibe there. They are keen to work hard and do their best. I've been really impressed with all their efforts around working and trying hard to get on top of the coaching themes. Josh Humphreys the head coach is doing a great job and he's got a big future in the game. It's his gig and I'm there to help him."
Ruddock has already experienced the very highest points of the game. He coached Blaina, Cross Keys, Bective Rangers, Swansea, Leinster, Ebbw Vale, Newport Gwent Dragons, Wales, Worcester Warriors, Ireland U20s and Lansdowne, and guided Wales to the 2005 Grand Slam. But his return to South Gower is not about adding another achievement to his CV. It is about helping a club he already knows well develop the players coming through its ranks. And, perhaps fittingly, it takes him back to the place where his own sons' rugby journeys began.
"I thought this will probably be my last job in rugby so how good would it be to spend it at a local community club as a volunteer, working with people I've worked with before and who I've got a good relationship with," he concluded. "Hopefully if I can help some of those younger players to improve that would be a positive time for me after being a head coach for 35 years." For Ruddock, it is a chance to give something back to the club that gave his sons their start and help the next generation find their own path in the game.
