Ronan O'Gara hits the nail on the head as he delivers verdict on Wales coaching team

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The Irish coach has offered up his thoughts on Wales ahead of this month's Nations Championship

Former Ireland fly-half Ronan O'Gara says the form of Wales' English-based players could bode well for Steve Tandy this month.

A well-worn cliché of the first Warren Gatland era was that Wales' players used to struggle for their club sides before coming together with the national team and winning titles. Certainly, over the Irish Sea, that has been a running piece of commentary on Welsh rugby for over a decade.

In the past five or so years, victories for the national team have dried up - with the Welsh Rugby Union's mismanagement of the professional game having a catastrophic effect on the game in this country.

As such, the Welsh domestic game currently finds itself mired in even more politics than usual - with the WRU currently caught between trying to cut a professional team and edge their way into the Gallagher Prem.

Given the turmoil, a number of Wales' players have seen fit to head across the Severn Bridge - with Jac Morgan, Dewi Lake and Aaron Wainwright all moving to England this summer.

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Fourteen of Tandy's 39-man squad are playing their rugby in the Prem, with O'Gara believing that the different club scene could help.

"Winning games at club level is so important," ITV pundit O’Gara told the Daily Mail. "Wales haven’t had that historically and their guys have been deprived of all confidence at Test level.

"No matter how mentally strong you are, you can’t just flick a switch and get that. Winning is a habit.

"I watched the Gloucester-Bordeaux game in the Champions Cup. The best players on the pitch weren’t French. That bodes well for England as well as Wales."

The La Rochelle coach also outlined the match that Wales need to win this month, adding that he felt Wales' coaching team is making progress.

"Wins for Wales aren’t measured by victories now," he said.

"They’re measured by progress and I think their coaching ticket has delivered that. There should be a bounce in their camp.

"Their non-negotiable has to be beating Japan."

O'Gara will be appearing on ITV throughout the Nations Championship on their weekly show, alongside former Wales fly-half Dan Biggar, each Sunday evening.

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