Ruddock doffs cap to Henry and Hansen

Woodward impressed with Welsh setup

Wales coach Mike Ruddock has paid tribute to his predecessors - the very men he will do battle with at the Millennium Stadium on Saturday.

All Black boss Graham Henry returns to Cardiff to face the men he lead as coach from 1998 to 2002, with a record of 20 wins, one draw and 13 defeats.

The New Zealander arrived in Wales as the 'Great Redeemer', and put in motion a series of structural changes which former coach Kevin Bowring simply could not persuade the Wales Rugby Union (WRU) to make.

Steve Hansen, Henry's current assistant, took over the top Welsh job in 2002 and continued to press for change, eventually forcing the Welsh domestic game to go regional.

"As disappointed as you are not to have got the job, you take it on the chin and move on. And on reflection, I think it's the best thing that ever happened to Welsh rugby," said Ruddock.

"I think the only reason the changes that have been made structurally to Welsh rugby and also behind the scenes happened is because of Graham and Steve.

"If you reflect upon Kevin Bowring's tenure - he is a great coach as well - he struggled to get those sort of changes implemented.

"I think a Welshman would have struggled to get the changes that Graham and Steve did.

"And let's be honest, I wouldn't have had the experience at the top level, in Super 12, to actually draw up the template that would have been successful. I am a beneficiary of their great work and I am forever indebted."

Sir Clive Woodward, a stickler for preparation, has been shadowing Wales this week to pick up tips ahead of next year's Lions tour to New Zealand and he has been pleasantly surprised by what he discovered.

"Sir Clive was very impressed with our indoor training facility, our offices, our gym, our structures, our analysis room. I think he was a bit surprised how far we are down the road in terms of our professionalism behind the scenes.

"And again, I go back to Graham and Steve. It is all there for me.

"I just hope we can get a result on Saturday, show them how far we have come and however disappointed they might be they will realise a lot of it is down to them as well."

Ruddock finally got his chance to take the top job when Hansen returned to New Zealand to link up again with Henry on the All Blacks coaching staff.

Hansen admitted he would feel a definite sense of pride if Wales proved on Saturday that his hard work was finally bearing fruit, although it is unlikely to over-ride the sense of disappointment should they lose.

"There's no doubt I would be gutted if we lost and probably would be for a while," said Hansen.

"But I guess later I would reflect on the fact that what I did actually helped Wales, which is what I set out to do.

"There are some real quality players in the Welsh team and they have earned the right to be called quality players.

"Alfie [Gareth Thomas] is a great player, Stephen Jones is playing great rugby. Gavin Henson has turned the corner and is playing like he can possibly play, world class.

"Some of those forwards - Colin Charvis has proven himself, Jonathan Thomas is an up-and-comer. There is a ton of good players.

"But hopefully that's something I won't have to reflect upon."

Henry and Hansen have returned to Cardiff this week to lead the All Blacks but Ruddock is confident they will have less of an insight into how Wales will play than they think.

Ruddock inherited a side after the World Cup which was on the up and it is a mark of their ambitions now that an impressive last hour against South Africa a fortnight ago does not satisfy them.

"Steve will know a lot about the players and his time as Wales coach will have armed him with that knowledge, but certainly as a team we would like to think we have moved on," said Ruddock.

"A lot of things, team structures and the way we play the game, have moved on. So hopefully he won't be as clued up as he thinks.

"I'd like to think that slow start against South Africa was down to our lack of cohesion because we had a couple of new combinations. It took us a while to settle down but over the last hour we got it together and played some great rugby, that is our focus."