Having been unable to play rugby and hence coach, sometimes I feel a sense of guilt when handing out critiques to those who have reached the heavy honours of pulling on a Welsh shirt, but having watch an inordinate amount of rugby in my relatively short years with a broad mind, one thing I do know is that something is fundamentally wrong with Welsh rugby.

Too often it is about feast and famine, success followed by deep and dark periods of failure. Perhaps events such as those that played out in April 2005 fooled us that such celebration was built on more solid foundations. Wales have not produced a sustained period of success during the professional era, and at no stage have they contained a substantial amount of world-class players.

If Graham Henry the perceived best coach in the World cannot succeed, what chance has anyone of gaining consistent enough results to take Wales between World cups?The first step has to be the appointment of a Director of elite performance who is given a free reign to make sweeping changes from top to bottom, influencing not just the national team, but more importantly the regions, Premiership clubs, and as far down as the academies. An outsider with vision who understands the system is not sacred and Wales is fairly incomparable to any other home nation, without a public school system churning out players.

There is no definitive answer, and not all is rotten, but now is the time for something deep and lasting to occur in the Welsh game, whether or not those charged with leadership are willing to face harsh truths, time will tell.

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