posted Jan 14, 2008

"Is anyone else out there a little worried about the imminent appointment of Shaun Edwards as defensive coach??"

No, not worried at all - I'm happy about it. I'm more worried that some of the old coaches and Alan Phillips were retained. How Phillips kept his job after the Ruddock affair stunned me...and he is still there.

Shaun Edwards has proven himself as a coach, and he is desperate to succeed and further enhance his reputation. Contrast this with the appointment of Rowland Phillips / Robin McBryde the last time around. I wish things had gone better for them, but pitching them into that arena was clearly too much at the time.

In addition to his excellent track record, Edwards has no regional bias and will not tolerate any nonsense (player power, etc)...his appointment is exactly what we need.

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posted Jan 14, 2008

Another thing, rather than Edwards giving away any secrets, the advantage will actually be with Wales...he will have an excellent knowledge of the English players to share with the Welsh squad. I wish people would look at things a bit more positively.

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posted Jan 14, 2008

Rob Andrew and the RFU have blundered yet again by not getting SE involved in the senior set up,It makes me think whether Rob(run with the ball)Andrew is the correct man to be in the position that he is.

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posted Jan 14, 2008

The RFU have made a huge mistake. Edwards should have been in the England set up prior to the world cup.

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posted Jan 14, 2008

If anything I am slightly more worried about Rob Howley being given his chance too early. Mind you it is a little tenuous to quote your great great great grandfather as a reason for joining the set-up!

Nah SE and Gats together again might just persuade the WRU what professionalism looks like - hope the blazers sod off to the board of NUFC where they belong

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posted Jan 14, 2008

Looks like Wales are putting in a decent structure.

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posted Jan 14, 2008

hmm does this mean Wales will defend only part time as well?

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posted Jan 14, 2008

Great appointments.Now it`s up to the players to perform!

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posted Jan 15, 2008

As an Englishman and a wasps supporter I am not happy that we have let him go albeit on a part-time basis. With his record as a player and a coach I cannot understand why any Welsh supporter doesn't want him. All I can say is send him back asap!

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posted Jan 15, 2008

My only concern with the appointment of SE, is not the part time nature, nor the unlikely potential of him giving away Welsh tactics. I am more concerned that we need a stable coaching team for the next four years... once he has a couple of years international experience, will he end up being poached by England to help them prepare for the World Cup?

We now have a solid coaching team (although I'm concerned by Howley's relative lack of experience)so I'm hoping that we can start to coalesce into a world rugby force that is at least threatening the southern hemisphere's domination of the international rugby world.

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