Rugby story by Brian Watters, Mon, 02 Jan 2006 21:04:00 GMT


Wales coach Mike Ruddock is all set to extend his contract with the National team until the 2007 World Cup slated to be held in France. This announcement came one day after Ruddock was decorated with an OBE for guiding Wales to a Six Nations win last season.

"What you will find is there will be some positive announcements pretty soon," Ruddock commented. "We have been going through a process to make sure that everyone is comfortable with what we are going to do through to the 2007 World Cup." He added that they would be striving to win the Six Nations again this season, but the main prize was the World Cup. "We have won 10 of our last 12 games and that gives the players and coaches a lot of confidence for the future but we still know we can improve. Experience is a great thing and the more I get as an international coach the better I will become," he said.

The Welsh Rugby Union wanted to get Ruddock and Scott Johnson, the skills coach to ink a deal till the World Cup and Ruddock was non-committal till now. Johnson's position is not yet clear.

Currently, Ruddock is battling injuries to key players and the suspension of Gavin Henson, who could miss the first three matches in the Six Nations campaign. But Ruddock was still confident of a good showing, "We want to develop and we want to hold on to our title, but we will have to look outside the box and maybe put in a few youngsters with a view to the 2007 World Cup."

As far as Henson's suspension was concerned, Ruddock said that he did not condone his behavior, but still wanted the Ospreys' to go ahead with the appeal. "My advice would be to consider an appeal very strongly. I have noted that, for use of the elbow, there have been two or three different sentences. That's something that needs to be considered,” he commented.

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