Mike Ruddock
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Mike Ruddock, OBE (born 5 September 1959 in Blaina) was the coach of the Welsh national rugby union team from 2004 until February 2006.
Ruddock played in the back row for Blaina, Tredegar and Swansea, making 119 appearances for Swansea and scoring 43 tries. He also played for Wales under-16s and Wales B, but his playing days were ended prematurely by an accident at work in 1985. Working as an electricity linesman he fell from a pole, suffering serious injuries including three compressed vertebrae and a fractured skull.
He began his career as a coach at Blaina, and later coached Cross Keys and had a spell in Ireland with Bective Rangers. As coach of Swansea, he recorded a 21-6 win over the touring Australians in 1992 and won Welsh league titles in 1992 and 1994 and the Welsh Cup in 1995. In 1997 he again moved to Ireland as director of coaching at Leinster.
Returning to Wales in 2000 he coached Ebbw Vale and Wales 'A' then coached Newport Gwent Dragons with considerable success. He was given control of the Wales team to face Romania in the run up to the 2003 Rugby World Cup, a match which Wales won 54-8 - their first win in 11 games.
In 2004, Steve Hansen left his post as coach of the Welsh national side to return to New Zealand, and Mike Ruddock was appointed to the job. In his first season, Wales completed the Grand Slam in the Six Nations Championship for the first time since 1978. He received the OBE in the 2006 New Years Honours List.
On February 14th 2006 it was announced that Ruddock was to resign as the coach of the Welsh national side, citing family reasons as the main motivation. However, there was speculation that the relationship between coach and players had soured, after Ruddock refused to support a ban on talking to the media suggested by captain Gareth Thomas.
