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Wru Chairman’s New Year’s Message

Wru Chairman’s New Year’s Message

Welsh rugby has rediscovered its innate playing style and can go into 2004 with renewed confidence and genuine anticipation on several fronts.

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That is the upbeat New Year message from WRU Chairman David Pickering, the former Wales captain who has been in the chairman’s hot seat since the summer.

And the feel-good factor generated by the thrilling Rugby World Cup performances against New Zealand and England in Australia in November mean the impending vacant Wales head coach position is no longer the poisoned chalice it was being painted.

‘I want to see us play with the style we showed Down Under – it was back to the true Welsh style of playing with flair and evasive running and I would love to see us carry on in that vein,’ he said.

‘I think we can build on what we saw in the World Cup and, all of a sudden, following on from the World Cup, the national coaching job is a vastly more attractive position.
‘People can see what the national side is capable of and there are a lot of people who would love to get their hands on that talent.
‘We would like to get the position sorted as soon as possible but by far the most important thins is to get the best possible candidate. It has to be the right man.’
Away from the pitch, Pickering accepts that, while inroads have been made into the £60m debt, the WRU must restructure that debt in a sensible way while also maximising the potential of the jewel in the WRU’s crown, the Millennium Stadium.

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