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Hore wades into war of words

Thursday 03rd July 2008

Speak up: Davies and Hore are in a war of words

As the Ospreys continue to search for a full-time replacement for Lyn Jones, a war of words has erupted between the regions Elite Performance Director (EPD) Andrew Hore and former Wales fly-half Jonathan Davies.

Davies had previously warned the Ospreys that they may find it hard to find a replacement for Lyn Jones, who left the club at the end of last season.

He suggested the presence of New Zealander Hore, who was manager of the high-performance unit of the New Zealand Rugby Union before returning to Wales to become EPD of the soaring Ospreys, could complicate matters.

The row has erupted at the same time The Western Mail revealed that Neath RFC coach Roland Phillips is set to join the Ospreys in a specialist coaching role that will see him work with players on an individual basis.

But Davies has warned the Ospreys that a new coach will want to be in charge, and not have to answer to Hore.

"Most coaches would come into a new job and want to be the main man," said Davies.

"But at the Ospreys he will be coming in under Andrew Hore. It's a difficult position to enter into."

Hore did not take kindly to Davies' comments and he hit back with his own blast.

"That shows a lack of understanding and I'd expect that from Jonathan, because his experience of professional sport was a fair time ago," Hore said.

"A high-performance department is there to support and assist - for a southern hemisphere person it's quite normal.

"I can't see that being an issue and it definitely hasn't been an issue in so far as the amount of people who have approached us and we've spoken to.

"We're just doing our homework very, very thoroughly because this is a vitally important phase for the Ospreys and where we're going next."

It is understood that Phillips will combine his Neath RFC duties with his new role with the Ospreys, and he will be joined at Neath by Wales U20 coach Patrick Horgan. Horgan led Ebbw Vale to fifth in the Welsh Premiership last season and now moves back to Neath having represented the club as a player.

Phillips has been the brain behind Neath's four successive league titles, as well as working on a part-time basis with the Ospreys before as a defence coach - during that time the Ospreys were crowned Celtic League champions.

However, Phillips' reputation was tainted by the failure of the Wales team under Jenkins. They managed to win just six of their 20 Tests during Jenkins' 16 months at the helm. Phillips was ditched when the Welsh Rugby Union appointed New Zealander Warren Gatland as successor to Jenkins following the World Cup flop in France against Fiji.

Hore has been keen to use local coaches as he looks to rebuild the Ospreys and turn them into a force in Europe, having already appointed Gruff Rees as a full time skills coach and Alex Lawson as the temporary fitness trainer.

Despite the moves to rebuild the Ospreys they will still start the new season without a new Head Coach, instead Sean Holley and Jonathan Humphreys will take temporary charge until a full time replacement is found.

One thing Hore made perfectly clear is that the Ospreys will not hire anybody on their name alone, they will need to prove their worth as a coach.

"Politics can mean that someone may be sitting in place where they are below their station in life and we might well be able to identify them," said the former Wales conditioning coach.

"There are numerous examples around the world of quality coaches operating away from the limelight. There's the Currie Cup, Welsh Premiership, Air New Zealand Cup, Mazda Trophy, there's a very good Second Division in England.

"The individual may even already be within the organisation as part of our existing coaching team, we can't rule anything out.

"Some of these people are just waiting for their opportunity and they could be great coaches. You've just got to find them. Good sports teams are the ones who make hard decisions and develop from within.

"But you have to prepare people before you tell them what they maybe don't want to hear, and you have to help them to get where they want to go to.

"There's a whole process to doing that, you have to change your whole culture. When you look at my experience with Wales and how we got from where we were in 2002 to where we were in 2005, it wasn't the people we changed as much as how they acted and behaved.

"We looked at changing their training habits, they way they treated themselves, the way they treated others, all these kind of things, and it's very much what Warren Gatland is effectively advocating.

"That's where we need to get to. It takes special people to help them get there.

"You have to have people with an understanding of what it is to change a culture. It's not easy, because people don't like change so it's got to be a collective effort. The difference between wining a title and losing it is a hair's breadth and all these kind of things are affected by the way you behave off the field.

"Your attention to detail in training, your work ethic, your 'family feeling' amongst the squad, all of these things make a distinct difference.

"If you've got this, it gives you a lot more self-belief in who you are and what you are about.

"The ugly wins when you are few points behind with 10 to go don't come about through luck. Often the only difference between the two sides is the self-belief that you grow through the way you behave."