Welsh rugby: Where have the nation's top-flight coaches gone?

From left to right: Allen Clarke, Wayne Pivac, Bernard Jackman and John Mulvihill

Two Irishmen, one Australian and a New Zealander.

Not the start of a bad joke, but the nationalities of the head coaches in Welsh regional rugby next season with no Welshmen in charge of any of the regions in 2018-19.

Ex-Ireland hooker Allen Clarke's appointment to the Ospreys role ended any hopes of a home-bred boss taking over.

Clarke joins another fellow ex-Ireland hooker Bernard Jackman (Dragons), New Zealander Wayne Pivac (Scarlets) and newly-appointed Cardiff Blues boss John Mulvihill, of Australia, as the men at the helm for next season.

A far cry from the inception of regional rugby in Wales in 2003, when five sides were created and a quintet of Welshmen were unveiled to much fanfare.

Dai Young (Cardiff Blues), Lyn Jones (Neath/Swansea Ospreys), Gareth Jenkins (Llanelli Scarlets), Mike Ruddock (Newport Gwent Dragons) and Lynn Howells (Celtic Warriors) were paraded at the Millennium Stadium 15 years ago.

The first five Welsh regional head coaches, Dai Young, Lyn Jones, Gareth Jenkins, Mike Ruddock and Lynn Howells

It was part of David Moffett's regional revolution.

Some team names have changed and one side has even fallen by the wayside with Warriors going out of existence after just one season in 2004.

But one of the most noticeable alterations is the nationality of the coaches.

One thing remains the same with the national coach being a New Zealander - Steve Hansen in charge then, Warren Gatland has the job now.

Steve Tandy (L) and Kingsley Jones were coaches at Ospreys and Dragons respectively before Irishmen took over

There was a Welsh coach in charge at the beginning of this season in Steve Tandy but the Ospreys parted company with him earlier in 2018.

Danny Wilson, an Englishman who has largely developed as a coach in Wales, will leave Blues to join Welshman Dai Young at Wasps.

Now Clarke completes a Grand Slam of Welsh rugby's coaching foreign legion as only Young at Wasps flying the flag in the English game.

Of the other original five, Howells, Jones and Ruddock are all coaching overseas in Romania, Namibia and Ireland, while former regional bosses Phil Davies and Kingsley Jones are in national positions in Namibia and Canada.

But should the current lack of Welshmen at the top of regional rugby matter and how concerned should Welsh rugby lovers be?

Welsh Rugby Union view

Geraint John is the Welsh Rugby Union head of performance and says the governing body is aware of the issue.

"We would love Welsh coaches to be head of the regions and our strategy is to get them into those positions," said John.

"People talk about the coaches that have been there before and we don't have the Welsh head coaches right now.

"What we are trying to do is put a programme in place and support coaches, so in years to come we do have some Welsh people in charge of our regions.

"We've got a good group of young coaches coming through in our system and also working in other countries when you look at the likes of Dwayne Peel and Jonathan Thomas in Ulster and Bristol.

Geraint John was the first Cardiff Blues backs coach in 2003

"We want the best coaches to serve our players and our regions.

"If the best coaches are Welsh, that's fantastic for us and we have a duty to develop them.

"Everybody is in the same position, looking for who is the best coach out there at this moment.

"As a governing body and myself, we have a duty to improve our coaches and put more resources behind their development."

Past players concern

Shane Willliams scored 58 tries in 87 Tests for Wales

There is some worry about the supply line among former players with ex-Wales and British and Irish Lions wing Shane Williams among them.

"It's a little bit concerning, we are a big rugby nation when it comes to players," said Williams.

"We're proud of the legendary status of the players that have come before us and we've had some great coaches over the years.

"But to have no Welsh coaches is quite strange. It makes you think where the development of coaches has gone.

"We've put a lot of focus on bringing players through academy systems and young players being blooded in big games and regions.

"However, we don't seem to have done the same with coaches.

"It's a tough job being a Welsh coach in Wales and sometime that can put people off."

Gareth Llewellyn played for Wales between 1989 and 2004

Former Wales lock Gareth Llewellyn, who won 92 caps and coached Neath for two-and-a-half seasons before losing his role in February this year, shares Williams' concerns.

"It is a worry," said Llewellyn. "You have to wonder why either coaches are not being developed as they should or whether they are not being given the opportunities.

"I would never like us to go down the route of never employing a Welshman as the national coach.

"There are not many Welsh candidates to replace Warren when he goes. It is an issue and why we are at this point.

"Having been involved in the coach development system, they are all positive about where we are compared to the rest of the world.

"It is the WRU's responsibility. If we are not developing people who are capable of coaching regions, we have to ask why not?

"Whatever they appear to be doing at the moment does not appear to be working.

"They also have to look at what they are doing with their ex-international players coming out of professional rugby."

Regional assurances

Allen Clarke joined the Ospreys from Ulster as forwards coach for the start of the 2017-18 season

New Ospreys head coach and Ulsterman Clarke is backing the diversity among coaches.

"There are a number of quality people within the Irish set up, as there are in Wales, there is that crossover," said Clarke.

"Going outside of your environment opens your eyes to new ways of learning, different ways of coaching, but it also helps you gain respect as someone who hasn't only been in his own environment.

"A lot of my coaching and rugby was in Ulster, but equally I worked as a high performance manager.

"As well as being in England, I did my time in Australia and New Zealand to see what was good over there."

Wayne Pivac is the former Fiji national coach

Scarlets boss Pivac will be the longest-serving regional coach next season as he prepares for his fifth campaign in charge and is one of the main candidates to replace Gatland as Wales boss when he stands down after 2019 World Cup.

Pivac led his new adopted region to Pro12 success in 2016-17 and has Stephen Jones, Ioan Cunningham and Byron Hayward in his coaching team, while there are more Welsh coaches in the backroom staff of the other three regions, with Wales Under-20s boss Jason Strange becoming the new Blues backs coach.

"It is something the WRU are actively looking on developing coaches and that is common sense," said Pivac.

"It is no different to players.

Wales' last permanent Welsh coach Gareth Jenkins (left) on the day of his sacking at the 2007 Rugby World Cup, with former WRU chairman David Pickering (centre) and its ex-chief executive Roger Lewis (right)

"Sometimes you will go through stages where you don't have, for whatever reason, people you think are capable of doing the job and you bring people in.

"That is no different to rugby teams. You bring players from overseas to fill the gaps where you don't think players coming through are quite ready.

"It is tough and when you don't get results the first person who goes is the coach in the modern age.

"The young coaches coming through our system are very good and I am happy with our group."