Finally, a Welshman

There's a Welsh coach back in charge of the national team, and a highly competent one at that in the formidable shape of Mike Ruddock.

It's the first time for 14 years that a Welsh-based coach has been fully in control which make a real change and comes at exactly the right time.

We've had two New Zealanders at the helm in Graham Henry and Steve Hansen which may have been appropriate because when Henry took over Welsh fortunes were at their lowest ebb and an increasing insularity was doing nobody any good.

So the late lamented Vernon Pugh and Glanmor Griffiths trawled the world and came up with a real nugget in Henry who transformed Wales by guiding them to a record equalling ten wins in a row.

It couldn't and didn't last as Welsh fortunes took a turn for the worse and after a 50-point hiding in Ireland Henry quit, leaving Hansen to take over.

He couldn't prevent Wales from a Six Nations whitewash with a first defeat in Italy the unacceptable face of Welsh rugby at the time. But he did manufacture a recovery of sorts by putting in proper structures, and the first green shoots of a Welsh revival came through during the World Cup in Australia.

But Hanson wanted to return home when his contract was up, and after six years a Welshman was in charge again, Ruddock taking over rather than the more favoured Gareth Jenkins.

But for 14 years there hadn't been a 'true' Welshman fully in charge, Dennis John having a caretaker role when Wales had 96 points put on them by South Africa in Pretoria in 1998.

Before that it was Kevin Bowring, a Welsh exile who had been in charge at London Welsh, and Australian Alex Evans was in command for the 1995 World Cup in South Africa when he took over from Alan Davies, another Welsh exile who had been at the helm with Nottingham.

So we have to go all the way back to Ron Waldron and John Ryan in the early 1990s to find a fully Welsh-based coach in direct charge of the national team.

It's about time the wheel has turned the full circle, and it's appropriate the man in charge now is Ruddock. For he cut his teeth in the rugby hotbed of the Gwent Valleys with his native Blaina, then Tredegar and Cross Keys before moving down west to Swansea where he enjoyed a great run as coach in the nineties.

He then 'emigrated' to Ireland where he had a couple of informative years with Leinster which really helped his progression.

Then it was back to his own Gwent Valleys in charge at Ebbw Vale which further enhanced his development in terms of managing on a tight budget.

Regional rugby followed with Newport Gwent Dragons where he gained more invaluable experience with his man management skills really shining through after a difficult start.

And anyone who cut his teeth in the Gwent Valleys is sure to grasp the most vital part of the game - the forwards and all-important control up front.

Sure enough, that is Ruddock's forte. He is nothing if not organised up front, he insists on the right foundations and he prides himself on his work in the scrum and line-out.

He is also a big one for studying opponents on video to get to know their strengths and weaknesses and he's a big planner.

On top of that he encourages freedom behind, he wants an expansive game but only when the basics have been done properly first.

Now he has all the back-up he needs from people like Scott Johnson, Clive Griffiths, Andrew Hore and Alun Carter so that no stone is left unturned.

With all that goes a basic friendliness and approachability that makes him absolutely ideal to coach Wales right now. With Ruddock basically what you see is what you get.

Apart from all those attributes, he must be the only guitar-playing, singing coach in charge of any national team. He wasn't slow to show us after a delightful media/WRU golf day last Autumn.

And last week at an RBS Six Nations 'off-the-record' media briefing lunch in Cardiff Bay he impressed sports editors who had never met him.

A good, solid Welshman in charge of Wales - that's just the ticket right now, a ticket which might even send England packing.