Former Wallabies believe to be the perfect coach to

WHEN Steve Tandy was reaching the end of the road with the Ospreys, he held a meeting one Monday with his players to try turn their fortunes around.

- BEN JAMES Rugby writer

The gist of the talk was, according to those who were there, that Tandy was adamant everyone in the room - himself included - wasn’t leaving until they started enjoying their rugby again.

In the end, that wasn’t enough to save his first professional coaching job, but those within the group would tell you they felt they'd turned a corner just before he left.

Quite where Tandy’s love of the game sat when he departed the Ospreys, only he will know.

Yet, his next move to Sydney undoubtedly widened his horizons in more ways than one.

He only spent one season at the Waratahs, before returning to the northern hemisphere.

But that single Super Rugby campaign almost certainly had a massive effect on his journey to becoming the new Wales head coach.

Walking around Sydney, even in the winter, it’s easy to see how it would boost the spirits of anyone.

The beaches, The Rocks. Sydney in the winter. It's Mumbles-adjacent, shall we say.

“Well, he had to pack his SPF 500,” former Wallabies and Waratahs scrumhalf Nick Phipps tells us.

“He didn’t appreciate the sun early on.

“He got absolutely nuked. He had to find his way through the heat early on.”

Another former Wallaby, fly-half Bernard Foley, remembers something similar about the Tonmawr product.

“He enjoyed the beaches in Sydney,’ said Foley, “but he couldn’t go out there for too long! He had to wear a big white hat and long sleeves. It was good for him coming over, that change of scenery.

“It probably helped him. But he also taught us a lot about the game and how they think about the game up there too.”

But clearly, Sydney worked for Tandy. All he'd ever known was the Ospreys and Wales. Getting out of the goldfish bowl could only be a good thing.

“It would have been good for him,” added Phipps. “Going straight from playing to coaching, it would have been good to get away.