There used to be a time when a Wales head coach had to ponder whether it was worth his while parking in the long-stay car park at the Vale Resort, so temporary seemed the position.
The whereabouts of the coffee machine at the team headquarters may have been a mystery to one or two by the time they departed.
Between February 2006 and October 2007, four men held the national coaching reins. Similarly, in little over three years up to 1991, another quartet of coaches guided Wales.
Warren Gatland brought stability, but now turbulence is back on the menu with Wayne Pivac’s position in question after a dismal autumn series. If he survives in post before the first carol singers start clearing their throats, it will be a major surprise.
Read more: Warren Gatland 'open to taking charge of England'
Gatland is being tipped to take over in an interim role through to the World Cup. Dai Young, the most experienced Welsh candidate currently in a high-profile position, this week ruled himself out of contention, not only saying he had no interest in the job but also doubting whether it was a role for a Welshman at this point in time.
What makes the job so challenging? Nigel Davies was part of the Wales coaching operation at the 2007 World Cup and led the team against South Africa in the game that immediately followed that tournament. He’s in a position, then, to offer insights.
“It is a very difficult job, with a lot of pressure coming through one person,” said Davies. “For anyone, there’s no doubt it can be hard to operate with the level of pressure.
“You have to have the full package of skills — a big personality included. You need a certain level of credibility to hold a room. You can come across accomplished technical coaches but a different skill is required to be a national head coach.
“It definitely helps if the man in question has people around him who can help out and advise, perhaps offer support and feedback during games. You need strong people dealing with the media and a good team of people around you.
“That said, the focus is largely on the individual at the top. There are so many facets to the role, but management ability is critical — how a head coach manages not just his players but also the people around him and how he manages the stakeholders. It goes without saying he has to get selection right.
“Coaches have different styles. Some do a lot of on-field work, others don’t. The ones who don’t just have a strategy that they want delivered and it’s up to others to put it into practice.
“The head guy manages them. Public relations would play a big part and it's important the man in charge communicates what he’s trying to do and how he engages the public. He also has to have the confidence of his players and make an effort to take them with him.
“When Alan Davies took over as Wales coach in the early 1990s, he was a very good man manager.
“For the first time in our careers with Wales, we were engaged. He asked us what we thought, what our strengths were and how we could be better. We’d never had people speak to us like that before. We’d been kicked up the backside or slapped around the head in a manner of speaking.
“He was the first modern coach that I came across in the international game. He looked at things differently and saw it as a management role. He recognised that managing a squad of players and staff to win games is very similar to running a business.
“Alan was a good communicator, a very important quality for a Wales head coach. That said, it wouldn’t hurt if the Welsh Rugby Union communicated better generally.”
What of Young’s view that now isn’t the time for a Welshman to be in charge of Wales? “Dai is being a bit modest, because he probably has the experience to do the job,” said Davies. “He’s proved himself in Wales and in England. He has built up a lot of knowledge over the years and been through the good times and the tough times that make you a better coach.
“He has stuck it out and has the scars, like almost every team boss. It is one of life’s ironies that adversity can make you better and it particularly applies in coaching.
“Steve Tandy has also done very well. He’s coached internationally and he’s worked abroad. He’s even toured as a coach with the Lions. His credentials are up there, then. I’m not sure he’s ready to be Wales head coach yet, but he could certainly do a job in the environment.
“Where I do agree with Dai is that the role is particularly tough for a Welshman. That was the case 15 years ago and it would be the same now.
“There are always accusations of parochialism, so if Dai went into the job and picked a lot of Cardiff players, say, he’d have stick for doing so, even if they deserved to be chosen. It’s just the way it is. It’s hard to be a preacher in your own land."
Davies is right about the heat that can come on any Welsh head coach. Last Saturday afternoon must have been the longest of Pivac’s career, with the New Zealander first seeing his side throw away a big lead against Australia and then having to explain away a miserable set of autumn results that had left his job hanging by a thread.
Occasionally, there seemed visible signs of stress during the questioning that followed. It was an ordeal and on a human level it was hard not to feel sorry for him. Pivac has always tried hard to communicate with the media and rarely has he been publicly tetchy over the course of his reign, but, ultimately, a coach needs good results and they haven’t consistently been there for the former Scarlets team boss.
The union are now reviewing the November games, with few giving the incumbent much chance of surviving the exercise. Gatland, it appears, already looks the man most likely to step in, albeit on a short-term basis, with the vastly experienced Kiwi, whose stint with Wales between 2008 and 2019 saw three Grand Slams delivered, widely viewed as having the skills and personality to achieve a quick turnaround.
“It would be nice to think we had some kind of plan in place before the autumn, because, regardless of Wayne’s situation, the World Cup’s only 10 months away and coaches tend to change after global tournaments," said Davies.
“In an ideal world, I’d like to think we were being progressive and had a succession plan in terms of who’s coming through with a hit-list of five or six proper candidates perhaps drawn up and who we’re speaking to now. It doesn’t look as if that’s the case.
“That said, Warren has achieved success before and he knows the Welsh game and what the job involves. If it is him, maybe he will be pragmatic with the way the team plays, as he was during his previous time in charge when we had success. Also, there’s the point that Wales do have the odd X factor player available in the likes of Louis Rees-Zammit, someone who can take advantage if the team turns over opposition ball through strong defence. You can win games that way.
"So I can understand why the WRU might want to bring in Warren.”
Davies continued: “I guess the problem is we have a team of players who have been fantastic for Wales but a large proportion of them are on the wrong side of 30. There hasn’t been that much evolution of the team over the past few years.
“So we have to build again but don’t have a lot of time to do it. But if it is to be Warren, I’m sure lots of Welsh fans would be happy, because he is a secure pair of hands.”
All will be revealed imminently. Welsh rugby has been here before, of course, contemplating a change of coach ahead of a World Cup, with previous national team bosses Ron Waldron, Alan Davies and Kevin Bowring and Mike Ruddock all departing for different reasons before previous global tournaments.
In every case, the man coming in faced a difficult job. In three out of four examples quoted above, Wales went on to exit at the pool stage in the World Cups that immediately followed.
History doesn’t have to repeat itself. But that statistic is sobering.
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