Pat Lam leads race for Wales job as WRU faces crucial coaching decision

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As the WRU begins it’s search for arguably its most crucial coaching appointment ever, Pat Lam has emerged as the frontrunner to take over as Wales head coach. The Bristol Bears boss leads the betting, but several other candidates are in the mix. A massive rebuild awaits before the July tour.

Transcript

00:00As the WRU begins its search for arguably the most crucial coaching appointment in recent history,

00:08Pat Lamb has emerged as the red-hot favourite to take over as Wales head coach. The Bristol Bears

00:16boss is currently the 5-2 frontrunner with Welsh bookmaker Dragon Bet. Born in New Zealand,

00:22the 56-year-old played for Auckland, North Harbour, the Crusaders, Newcastle Falcons

00:29and Northampton Saints. He also won 25 caps for Samoa, featuring in three World Cups,

00:36before transitioning into coaching. Several other names have been linked, including Ronan O'Gara,

00:42Steve Tandy, Michael Cheeker, Sean Edwards, Simon Easterby, Robin McBride and Brad Moore.

00:50Wales are searching for a new head coach following Warren Gatland's departure.

00:55His second stint ended in disaster, with a record-breaking 14 successive test defeats,

01:01culminating in a humiliating Six Nations loss to Italy. Cardiff coach Matt Sherratt stepped

01:08in as interim boss for the final matches, but could not halt the decline. His tenure ended

01:14with Wales' worst ever home defeat, a 68-14 thrashing by England at the Principality Stadium.

01:22It was the team's heaviest loss in Cardiff, their biggest Six Nations defeat,

01:27and marked their 17th consecutive test loss, an unwanted record for a Tier 1 nation.

01:33Last game of the campaign. I just think they need support. As I said, they're a good group of lads.

01:40There's some really good players in the room as well. They just need to try and reset and,

01:46as you know, there's going to be some fresh appointments over the next

01:50couple of weeks and I think it's just about resetting and trying to move forward as quickly

01:56as possible because today's disappointing. It's devastating for the players.

02:03Wales now face a massive rebuild before their July tour to Japan. Whoever takes the job

02:08will inherit one of the most challenging tasks in Welsh rugby history.

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