It was time regions got tough over success

Apr 30 2008 by Andy Howell, Western Mail

PHIL DAVIES’ shock departure from Stradey Park might eventually be remembered as the day the Welsh regions left their gentlemanly image behind ... and got really tough about trying to achieve success.

For far too much time, powerbrokers at the Blues, Dragons, Ospreys and Scarlets have been immersed in the amateur ethos of years gone by and reluctant to take drastic action.

There have been times when it has been blindingly obvious that changes needed to be made. Particularly at the top.

But, apart from the Dragons not renewing the contract of Chris Anderson in 2005, nothing has happened despite rugby at professional level supposedly being a results-driven business.

Anderson got the chop because he wasn’t one of us – he was Australian – and came from rugby league, having guided his native country to World Cup success.

It didn’t happen to a Welshman until this moment in time for the reasons outlined above and I’m a little surprised the Scarlets didn’t give Davies a last chance.

He has got another two years of his reputed £120,000-a-year contract left, and the Scarlets will have to stump up the cash to pay off the former Wales back-row star.

The last thing Scarlets chiefs would have wanted was to have been forced into this situation.

But there have been behind-the-scenes rumblings at Stradey for some time with certain players said to be unhappy with the regime and claims the coach was on a collision course with chief executive Stuart Gallacher.

There have also been whispers unhappiness in the corridors of the famous old ground being among the reasons why British Lions and Wales scrum-half Dwayne Peel turned his back on his home region to sign for English side Sale.

What made Peel’s move to the Guinness Premiership even more concerning is that Wales boss Warren Gatland, Worcester chief Mike Ruddock and even Sale coach Kingsley Jones claim most players in England are on smaller pay packets than those here.

Scarlets had to come up with a bumper package to persuade Peel’s Lions and Wales half-back partner Stephen Jones not to move on.

So the alarm bells have been ringing in the background for some time in West Wales.

They sounded louder yesterday as the board realised it was the crunch moment and tough, hard-nosed business decisions had to be made.

Other players were looking to leave – Wales star Alix Popham has been lined up for a move to Brive and international centre Matthew Watkins has been in talks with Guinness Premiership leaders Gloucester – and crisis point had been reached.

The stakes couldn’t be higher because the Scarlets are moving into a plush new £23m stadium with a 15,000 capacity on the outskirts of the West Wales town next season.

Their very future and that of the spanking new ground hinges on their success on the field.

Sixteen defeats in 25 matches this season wasn’t only unacceptable to Scarlets directors, but to their supporters.

Their great history demands excellence and, quite frankly, Davies has fallen short of the demands of such a privileged and cherished position this campaign.

He has been too autocratic, attempted to take too much on himself, made too many mistakes, like failing to address their abundantly clear problems at tighthead prop last summer and failing to recruit a big, world-class lock forward.

His other error was repeatedly claiming the Scarlets were making progress when it was plainly untrue.

One of his favourite lines was: “We are growing as a team and building for the future.”

But losing six out of six of their pool matches in the Heineken Cup and becoming the first team to be eliminated from the glittering tournament, scoring just 74 points and conceding a whopping 213, is glaring evidence of their decline.

It was only last season, during Davies’ honeymoon period, they went through the pool stage of the Heineken Cup unbeaten and reached the semi-finals, putting holders Munster out in the quarter-final.

The excuses didn’t wash with me and they eventually didn’t with the board. Too many people make too many excuses in Welsh rugby and the blame-everything-else culture has to stop.

The Scarlets, when they move in the autumn, are looking to attract a new breed of fans.

Their crowds hover around the 6,000 mark, but they need to up that figure substantially to have any hope of a prosperous future.

To do that, they have to compete with the Ospreys.

It takes 20 to 25 minutes to get from Llanelli to Swansea’s Liberty Stadium, home of the ambitious, big-spending Ospreys. The sponsorship deals the star-studded Ospreys have got on their jersey alone are the envy of the other regions.

And the cruel reality is, unless the Scarlets can compete with them in terms of success on the field, they risk being swallowed up.

Davies was touted as a future Wales coach, but his record with Leeds– which ended in most of his coaching duties being taken away from him following relegation and a reported players’ revolt – and with the Scarlets suggest he still has everything to prove.

What’s happened to him is one of the hazards that comes with earning a lucrative career from professional sport.

And to think Davies was being touted as a Wales coach recently?