Gareth John James Jenkins (born 11 September 1951) is a Welsh former rugby union player and coach. Born in Burry Port, Carmarthenshire, he played for Llanelli RFC for 17 years from his debut in September 1969. He was appointed coach of the club in 1982. In 2003, he was appointed as coach of the newly formed Llanelli Scarlets regional side, guiding them to the Celtic League title in their first season. Following the resignation of Steve Hansen as coach of the Wales national team, Jenkins applied for the position and was one of two finalists only for Mike Ruddock to be appointed without applying. Jenkins finally took over as Wales coach when Ruddock resigned during the 2006 Six Nations, but his tenure was unsuccessful, winning just six of his 20 games in charge. He was sacked on 30 September 2007, the day after Wales failed to qualify for the quarter-finals of the 2007 Rugby World Cup. He returned to the Scarlets as their head of regional development and recruitment in June 2008.
Playing career
Born in Burry Port, Jenkins played as a flanker for Llanelli RFC, Wales B side and the Barbarians. Jenkins also toured Japan with the Welsh national team in 1975, but was not capped. Jenkins made 259 appearances for Llanelli RFC since his debut as a 17-year-old, before his career was cut short by injury at the age of 26. Older than teammate Ray Gravell by a day, he was the second-youngest member of the Llanelli team that famously beat New Zealand 9–3 at Stradey Park in 1972.
Jenkins became player-coach of Furnace United RFC after he stopped playing for Llanelli RFC, coaching FURFC from 1977 to 1982; it was the most successful era for the club, as they were promoted from section E to section C of the West Wales league.
Coaching career
Llanelli
During his 24-year stint as coach of Llanelli RFC, Jenkins won 13 Welsh Cup titles, a 1992–93 league and cup double (a first for a Welsh club) plus a 13–9 win over world champions Australia that same year. In 1998–99 and 2001–02 Llanelli won league titles and the newly formed regional side Llanelli Scarlets won the 2003–04 Celtic League title under his guidance. It was during this time he also led Llanelli to Heineken Cup semi-final places in 2000 and 2002. However, his team consistently fell just short in big games, notably in the Heineken Cup. He was also assistant coach of Wales during the 1993–94 season.
Wales national team
Jenkins was first proposed as a candidate for the job of Wales coach by First Minister of Wales Rhodri Morgan in 2002, following the departure of Graham Henry. Steve Hansen took over from Henry for the 2002 Six Nations, before being given the role on a permanent basis. When Hansen left after the 2004 Six Nations, Jenkins and Mike Ruddock were seen as the leading candidates to replace him. Jenkins was the only one of the five regional coaches to put himself forward for the role, and was one of 15 total applicants, along with Harlequins coach Mark Evans and former Canada coach Dave Clark; Jenkins and Evans were the only applicants invited for a second interview. Despite Jenkins being viewed as the front-runner for the position, the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) approached Ruddock and named him as Hansen's successor ahead of Jenkins on 11 March 2004. Jenkins said he felt humiliated by the decision, and accused a member of the selection panel of "a complete lack of integrity", while Scarlets chief executive Stuart Gallacher criticised the WRU for their decision, saying Jenkins might have permanently lost the chance to coach Wales.
In October 2004, Jenkins was named as part of Clive Woodward's British & Irish Lions coaching team for their tour to New Zealand in 2005, with a specific focus on coaching the teams that would play in the midweek matches. He called the appointment "the pinnacle of [his] coaching career to date", following in the footsteps of his former Llanelli coach Carwyn James, who had led the Lions to a series victory over New Zealand on the 1971 tour. Jenkins was initially the only Welsh coach selected by Woodward, after the WRU barred all the members of the Wales coaching staff from being part of the Lions tour; they ultimately allowed Ruddock to be part of the Lions coaching team, but no other members of the Wales backroom staff, though Ruddock ultimately went on Wales' tour to North America instead. The Lions won all five of their midweek matches on tour, including a 109–6 victory over Manawatu; however, they lost the test series 3–0.