'The biggest loss to Welsh rugby was losing him': Tom Shanklin

Former Wales centre Tom Shanklin has described Shaun Edwards departure to join France in 2020 as “the biggest loss to Welsh rugby”.

Wales are currently in a period of decay after a golden age in the 2010s which saw greats like Sam Warburton, Alun Wyn Jones and Jamie Roberts (to name but a few) bring the nation a welter of success.

Though Warren Gatland returned to the Welsh set-up in 2022 having left in 2019, he no longer has the formidable player pool he once had. Worst still, he is now without his former right-hand man Shaun Edwards, who is now part of a France coaching team that inflicted an emphatic 43-0 on Wales in the opening round of the Guinness Six Nations, which extended their losing run to 13 Tests.

Having worked under Gatland and Edwards in the tail-end of his 70-cap Wales career, Shanklin recently gave an insight into what the rugby league great was like in the Welsh camp on the Stick to Rugby podcast alongside another player coached by Edwards, Lawrence Dallaglio.

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The defence guru was described as “aggressive” by Shanklin, but he added that the Wales players “loved him” and “bought into it,” and in turn he won four Six Nations titles during his 11-year coaching stint.

Edwards has since gone on to win a Grand Slam with France in 2022, and will be lining up another trophy this year. Meanwhile, Wales players and fans are lamenting what they once had.

“You need people like how he taught and how he coached,” the Welshman.

“He was very aggressive, but the boys bought into it. Not only because he was a legend and they’d seen him play for Wigan, for Great Britain, but just the way he did it. It was his way, he knew everything about it. Whenever you questioned him he had an answer for.

“He was just great to have around. The first time he coached Wales was 2008, him and Warren Gatland and Rob Howley were in. We’re playing England at Twickenham. He gets involved in the changing rooms before the game. We’re in the changing room in Twickenham and you can hear him shouting stuff. He’s going ‘Line speed! Line speed! Line speed! Aggression!’ and you don’t want to get looking at him because he’ll just eyeball you out then.

“I remember he’s going ‘I f*****g hate the English! I f*****g hate these English!’ because that’s his mentality. He meant it. He was Welsh, he was in that Welsh camp. Whoever we were playing he hated, he took it personally. But I looked over and he’s got the St. George’s Cross tattooed on his arm. He was in the moment.

“We loved him and honestly, the biggest loss to Welsh rugby was losing him And we’re so glad he didn’t go to England. He’s invaluable.”