Ruddock set for a return to Ireland

FORMER LEINSTER and Wales coach Mike Ruddock looks set to return to Irish shores next season as head coach of Blackrock College RFC.

Ruddock resigned this week as director of rugby at Worcester Warriors after three seasons in charge following the club’s relegation from the English Premiership. He has had two previous coaching spells in Ireland, with Bective Rangers in the 1990s before guiding Leinster from 1997 to 2000.

The high water mark of his coaching career came with the Welsh national team, from March 2004 until February 2006, when they captured the Grand Slam for the first time since 1978.

Married to an Irish woman, Bernadette, Ruddock’s two sons Ciarán and Rhys have both declared for Ireland, with Rhys captaining the Ireland under-20s to the Six Nations title this season. Rhys is 21 months younger than Ciarán and was born in Dublin in November 1990 when Ruddock was coaching Bective.

Both featured for Ireland in the 2009 IRB Junior World Cup and subsequently joined the Leinster Academy.

Ruddock already indicated a desire to bring the family – they also have a teenage daughter – back to Ireland due to his sons’ progress with Leinster.

Ruddock hails from Blaina, a small town in north Gwent, where he played before making 119 appearances for Swansea and was capped by Wales A.

He would be replacing Barry Gibney and Emmett Farrell who, after a five-year tenure as senior coaches, saw them achieve their best finish of fourth in Division 1A this season.