Welsh saga has a touch of Saipan about it

Gerry Thornley On Rugby: Comparisons have been made with Eddie O'Sullivan's accession to the throne which was, eh, vacated by Warren Gatland. However, to have an idea of the sheer seismic scale and divisiveness of the daily fallout in Wales from the sacking/removal/resignation (delete to taste) of Mike Ruddock last week, it is perhaps best to call this Welsh rugby's version of Saipan. It really is shaping up to be that divisive, and there might be worse to come.

Indeed, one of the supreme ironies of the more recent stages of O'Sullivan's reign is how rival coaches, whether enjoying less or more success (Eddie Jones and Ruddock), have walked the plank while O'Sullivan serenely talks the talk despite a poor autumn and then conducts a masterful PR campaign to deflect attention from the vagaries of Ireland's performance in Paris, all the while seemingly immune from employers who have backed him until 2008.

Yet, while from the opposite end of the contractual extreme, the IRFU are a model of professionalism compared to the WRU, who contrived to leave the head coach, skills coach and defensive coach all dangling with no contractual assurances beyond the end of May. That's one hell of a way to run a business. With so much anger in the valleys, someone, you would imagine, will pay the price, and the favourite scapegoat is the Welsh CEO Steve Lewis.

This, after all, is the same regime that gazumped Ruddock and Gareth Jenkins in turn when the Welsh job became vacant on the previous two occasions, and in a further damning indictment of the WRU, Jenkins has already ruled himself out of any succession stakes unless there's a regime change at the top.

"Totally shocked," was how Jenkins, the Llanelli and Lions' assistant coach, described the mood in Wales after the Scarlets' defeat to Connacht at the weekend. "We're in disbelief," he added. "None of us had any idea that this was there; that there was an issue there. What's coming out now is a lot of things, and it's not all out. I think there's more to come out before we finally recognise what the hell has gone on. But we're still in disbelief." And after their best season in 28 years. "Tell us," he said, repeating the words incredulously.

Sure enough, fresh dirty linen (if that isn't an oxymoron) is being washed in public daily, and in another irony, with each passing day, Ruddock's stature is actually rising. And you really couldn't make up what's going on in Wales at the moment.

An article in the Observer by Eddie Butler has pointed an even stronger accusing finger at Scott Johnson, the previous assistant and now installed as Ruddock's replacement for the moment, in allegedly undermining his old boss. With the Western Mail and the Welsh public also taking a very pro-Ruddock line, the spotlight has thus focused on Johnson and the senior players, a delegation of whom met with Lewis last week.

After a recorded interview with Johnson on BBC Wales' rugby programme on Sunday night, Thomas appeared 'live' alongside Butler and Jonathan Davies. Exclusive and, you could say, explosive. You wonder who advised the Welsh captain to do this. Perhaps he was acutely aware that the players were losing the public relations, but in any event the strain showed.

It can be reviewed on the bbc.co.uk website and makes for compulsive viewing, at any rate as car crash television goes, which often degenerated into a near bar-room brawl between Thomas and Butler, as they sat beside each other and looked each other in the eye.

So agitated was Thomas that in maintaining the players had met Lewis he revealed that the team were going to go on strike unless certain insurance issues were resolved. That would be a huge story in its own right, but is now just a minor detail in this extraordinary saga.

He denied that this meeting got Ruddock the sack, but admitted that the players were worried that Ruddock was not taking full responsibility for his role, that he needed to have a face-to-face meeting with Ruddock over these concerns, and that he told Lewis to do everything within his power to stop Johnson leaving.

In his angry exchange with Butler, Thomas demanded to know where the former Welsh backrower turned journalist and TV pundit had obtained his information, and who his sources were, while also voicing the view that the Welsh public and media wanted the team to now lose to Ireland. It was no wonder that Thomas also revealed he hadn't slept for five nights, nor that following this interview he was admitted to a hospital in Bridgend suffering from a severe migraine.

"It is a big game for both sides," said Jenkins, pointing out that Ireland have "been giving a lot of the game up and forcing a lot of errors on themselves. They've lost games because of their own pressure, and I think they'll want to put that right, no doubt about that at all."

Ireland, reckons Jenkins, don't have the same potential dominance up front of two years ago, and envisages a clash of similar styles now that Ireland are seeking to service "the best backline in the Northern Hemisphere. So I think Wales will be reasonably positive as long as their mindset is okay and they can get a performance out of themselves".

So will Wales' difficulties prompt a sleeves-rolled-up backlash? "That might be the case but it's difficult to make the call isn't it? We just don't know what the reaction will be."

On Sunday, Welsh coach, captain and players alike will have a new slant on the meaning of the word 'pressure'. If Wales' season disintegrates, amid a plethora of banners and booing, Thomas and Johnson will feel like condemned men.