Welsh Rugby Union set to appoint England 2003 World Cup winner and former colleague of Gareth Southgate Dave Reddin as new director of rugby

Dave Reddin, a key member of England’s 2003 World Cup-winning rugby team and a former lieutenant to ex-England football boss Gareth Southgate, is set to become Wales’ new director of rugby, MailSport understands. 

On the back of a 17-Test losing run and consecutive men’s Six Nations wooden spoons, the Welsh Rugby Union is looking to plot a way forward following a troubled 18 months. 

Chief executive Abi Tierney is searching for a new senior men’s head coach to permanently succeed Warren Gatland and is also close to announcing a new chief growth officer who will be charged with growing the WRU’s commercial revenue. 

It looks likely Reddin will take on the director of rugby position and head up the country’s national game. 

As previously reported by MailSport, Australian Scott Johnson and current interim WRU head of performance Huw Bevan had also been considered. Reddin was England fitness coach under Sir Clive Woodward’s guidance as the team sealed global glory and spent eight years with the RFU. 

In 2004, a year after England’s World Cup win, Reddin was awarded an MBE and toured New Zealand with the British & Irish Lions as fitness coach with Woodward in 2005. He went on to become Team GB head of performance and was in charge of Great Britain’s athletes for what was a record-breaking home Olympics in 2012.

Reddin has no specific rugby coaching or development background. But he does have a wide range of sporting experience and for five years was a key figure at The Football Association where he held a number of roles which culminated in him being head of team strategy and performance. 

At The FA, he worked with all of England’s major teams and enjoyed a close relationship with former senior men’s manager Southgate before leaving in 2019.

Reddin used to work alongside ex-England football manager Gareth Southgate

Reddin was part of the England football set-up which reached the semi-finals of the 2018 World Cup under Southgate, their eventual fourth-place finish equalling the second best result in the country’s long history. Reddin was subject to an FA investigation after a bullying allegation was made against him in 2017. 

After a thorough process, the FA said it was ‘entirely satisfied the matters were appropriately investigated and concluded.’ 

Taking on Wales’ director of rugby role is a tough job. The remit is extensive, but in essence it is to head up Welsh rugby’s development pathways in both the men’s and women’s game while also overseeing both national sides. 

First of all, Reddin is likely to join the WRU panel to recruit a men’s head coach, hopefully in time for this summer’s tour of Japan. 

Pat Lam of Bristol is the current favourite for that job and told MailSport the links were ‘flattering’ but that he was fully focused on winning this season’s Gallagher Premiership with the Bears. 

Whoever will succeed Gatland will then report into Reddin as director of rugby. It is a crucial time for Welsh rugby with Tierney also hoping to soon confirm a new agreement with the country’s four professional clubs.