The Head Coach of Wales rugby has left his role by mutual consent.
Ioan Cunningham was caught in the crosswires between the players and the governing body, the WRU. It would be wisest to assess the two elements separately.
Welsh rugby is in turmoil. Quite apart from the women’s toils, the men’s team and their head coach, Warren Gatland, have come in for hefty criticism. Players have been leaving the country in droves to earn a better living. Funding the four regions has proved an ongoing dilemma.
The ultimate blame is foisted of the WRU itself. Senior board members have come and gone across recent years, but even the current appointments, Richard Collier-Keywood, the Chairman, and Abi Tierney, the CE, seemed unable to control events sensibly, despite their undoubted professional abilities in other fields.
The players’ disquiet about their contracts and the general support they were receiving at first fell on deaf ears, but in the last few days the adminstrators have uttered words of regret and a determination to put matters right.
The Man in the Middle
In all this hullabaloo Cunningham was the fall-guy. He took charge after a sequence oif unhappy events. Rowland Phillips had been in charge since 2016, but he suddenly disappeared from view in 2020. His daughter Carys was the then captain and has recently regained her place in the side.
Into Phillips’ place came Warren Abrahams, a South African with expert knowledge of 7s with England and USA. He lasted in post for nine months, November 2020-July 2021. Wales finished last in the 6N in both those years.
Cunningham took over and initially brought the squad success. They twice finished third in the Six Nations, reached WXV1 and the quarter-finals of the World Cup. Since then it has been a downward trajectory, Wales again finishing sixth in the 6N last spring.
Inevitably questions were then asked about Cunningham’s competence as a coach. Some say a coach is only as good as the latest result. In his case his initial victories were overlooked as the team struggled to perform. Was he making the most sensible selections? Were he and his fellow coaches identifying obvious weaknesses and correcting them?
But it was his alleged complicity in some of the actions taken by the WRU that may have proved the breaking-point. It remains to be seen whether he did mislead players over the terms of their contracts and other details. For the present we must assume his innocence.
The effect of this breakdown of trust on the players can only be imagined. It is easy to assume that their under-par performances in the last two seasons were a direct effect of the authorities’ mismanagement. We need only look at the disparity in achievement between club performance in the PWR and in the red shirt to sense where the faults lay.
So that means a fourth head coach will take over inside five years. And it’s perfectly possible that other heads may fall before the whole episode is complete.
Wales and Ireland
Sadly, these tempests are all too reminiscent of Ireland’s position; the cases are uncannily similar. Both squads found it necesary to take joint action to seek redress, the Irish directing their first requests to politicians. Both unions eventually conducted independent reviews; which questioned the working practices and attitudes of the people in power.
The Irish have had one advantage: their issues came to light and were dealt with earlier – though not rapidly. In 2023 they finished sixth and last in the 6N. This year they qualified for WXV1 and finished second, an astonishing recovery from their previous position in WXV3.
So there is hope for the Welsh. Much will depend on the choice of person to take charge. Restoring confidence requires different skills from mere coaching competence. Scott Bemand seems to have found the golden key with the Irish.
Within most competitions, certainly WXV and the 6N, one team must finish first, another last. What all rugby followers need to see is players enjoying the game, knowing they have the full backing of their union.