“It’s a fantastic job and I’m loving every minute of it,” admitted Ruddock. “The win in Argentina last summer was significant, the victory against England was massive and our triumph over France in Paris two weeks ago was just fantastic.
“This is just the start. There is so much more to come from this side and we are building towards the 2007 Rugby World Cup. We know there are plenty of areas in which we can improve before we are the finished article.”
A huge travelling contingent of fans has followed the Wales team to Edinburgh buoyed by their victories over England, Italy and France, but Ruddock has been eager to avoid complacency within his squad.
“We don’t talk about winning Grand Slams or Championships, but obviously our aim is to win every game but we don’t look any further than that,” said the Wales boss. “Scotland are going to come at us all guns blazing as they will be desperate to spoil our party. We know what a difficult venue it is to win at but we’re confident we can win.”
Ruddock’s First Year Report
11 March 2004 – 11 March 2005
2004
26 May 2004 – Beat Barbarians 42-0 (Bristol, uncapped match)
12 June 2004 – Lost to Argentina 50-44 (Tucuman)
19 June 2004 – Beat Argentina 35-20 (Buenos Aires)
26 June 2004 – Lost to South Africa 53-18 (Pretoria)
06 Nov 2004 – Lost to South Africa 38-36 (Cardiff)
12 Nov 2004 – Beat Romania 66-7 (Cardiff)
20 Nov 2004 – Lost to New Zealand 26-25 (Cardiff)
26 Nov 2004 – Beat Japan 98-0 (Cardiff)
2005
05 Feb 2005 – Beat England 11-9 (Cardiff)
12 Feb 2005 – Beat Italy 38-8 (Rome)
26 Feb 2005 – Beat France 24-18 (Paris)
Capped Matches
Played: 10 Won: 6 Lost: 4
Points For: 395 Points Against: 229
Tries For: 49
Tries Against: 27
