Steve Tandy
| Born | Steve Tandy 16 January 1980 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Height | 184 cm (6 ft 0 in) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 103 kg (16 st 3 lb; 227 lb)[citation needed] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| School | Neath Tertiary College | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Steve Tandy (born 16 January 1980) is a Welsh rugby union former player and now coach. He is the current head coach for the Welsh national team having previously coached for the Ospreys and Scotland.[1]
Personal life
[edit]Tandy is married with three daughters. Family considerations were a reason why he turned down a Wales tour coaching opportunity in 2017.[2]
Playing career
[edit]Hailing from Tonmawr RFC, Tandy played as an openside flanker for Neath RFC between 1994 and 2003.[3] On joining Neath, he first played for their U21 side, before taking over the starting number 7 jersey from Brett Sinkinson.[4] He went onto represent the club on 74 occasions, including an appearance as a replacement in the 2003 Celtic Cup final against Munster at the then Millennium Stadium, losing 37–17.
At the turn of Regional Rugby in Wales in 2003, Tandy joined Ospreys, where despite being there for 7 years, only earned 102 appearances due to an injury impacted career. He never played for Wales despite impressing at regional level.[5][6]
Coaching career
[edit]While still a player, Tandy first started out coaching with his boy-hood club Tonmawr RFC, leading their seconds (Tonmawr Dragons) to win the Percy Howell’s Districts Cup. He also coached within the Ospreys academy, leading the U16s to a WRU Age Grade Championship title in 2010.
During the 2010/11 season, he continued to combine his playing role with the Ospreys with the head coaching role at Bridgend Ravens, where he led the Ravens to the WRU Division 1 West title, with an incredible 96 points (just one defeat and one draw shy of an unbeaten season). He later guided them into the Principality Premiership with a victory over Glamorgan Wanderers (38–19) at the Cardiff Arms Park in the play-offs.
By the start of the 2011/12 season, he had played his last game for the Ospreys and had officially retired from professional rugby. With this, he continued to coach the Ravens, whilst also acting as a technical coach for the Ospreys and acting head coach for the Ospreys during their Anglo-Welsh Cup campaign.[7]
However, in February 2012 he left the Ravens after he was installed as the Ospreys head coach role, where he replaced Sean Holley who immediately stood down as head coach of the region.[4][8]
Despite the sudden change at the Ospreys, Tandy led the Welsh region to the 2011/12 Pro 12 title, defeating Leinster 31–30 in the final.
He remained at the Region until 2018, guiding them to two more domestic semi-finals; losing out to Munster in both 2015 and 2017, and a European Challenge Cup quarter-final against Stade Français in 2017.
During his near six-year stint at the Ospreys he was in charge of 192 matches in all tournaments, winning 102 for a 53% success rate.[4]
In January 2018, Tandy and the Ospreys parted ways following a poor run of results during the 2017–18 Pro14 season.[9]
In November 2018, Tandy was announced as the new defence coach for the New South Wales Waratahs ahead of the 2019 Super Rugby season.[10] During his first season, he was integral in significantly improving the Waratahs defence, where his defensive systems led to the media calling the Waratahs' defence the ‘blue wall’.[11]
His tenure with the Australian outfit lasted just one season, and by December 2019, Tandy left to join the Scottish Rugby Union as defence coach for the national mens side.[12]
In his first Six Nations campaign in 2020, Scotland had the best defensive record in the championship, and thet were joint top in 2021 and second best in 2024. Scotland's defence was integral in Scotland's significant victories over Australia and Argentina (twice), and wins over England, France and Wales. He was also involved with Scotland during the 2023 Rugby World Cup.
His efforts with Scotland's defence led to Warren Gatland selecting Tandy as defence coach for the British & Irish Lions during their 2021 tour to South Africa.[13]
In July 2025, he was announced as the new Wales head coach.[14] In doing so, he became the first Welsh-born head coach for the national team since Gareth Jenkins was sacked from the position in 2007.[15] He replaced Matt Sherratt who acted as interim head coach from February 2025 to July 2025. However, Sherratt later joined Tandy's backroom staff as attack coach.
References
[edit]- ^ "Wales appoint Steve Tandy as head coach to launch the post-Gatland era". The Guardian. Retrieved 21 July 2025.
- ^ Orders, Mark (28 December 2016). "Steve Tandy: Why I turned down Wales". Wales Online. Retrieved 21 July 2025.
- ^ "Neath scalp Scarlets to move top". BBC. 19 February 2003. Retrieved 10 April 2008.
- ^ a b c "Steve Tandy . . . The First Welsh Wales Coach for Almost 20 Years". Dragons Sport. 9 August 2025. Retrieved 11 May 2025.
- ^ "Ospreys suffer Tandy injury blow". BBC. 8 July 2007. Retrieved 10 April 2008.
- ^ "Rugby Union: Ospreys lost in interpretation". Independent on Sunday. 2 October 2005. Retrieved 11 April 2008. [dead link]
- ^ Ospreys appoint Tandy as head coach
- ^ Steve Tandy replaces Sean Holley as Ospreys coach
- ^ Steve Tandy: Ospreys part company with head coach
- ^ NSW Waratahs complete coaching team for 2019
- ^ The defensive system dubbed 'The Blue Wall' that's confounding Super Rugby has a northern hemisphere coach masterminding it
- ^ "Steve Tandy appointed Scotland's new defence coach". The Offside Line. 27 December 2019. Retrieved 5 August 2020.
- ^ Townsend and Tandy to join Lions coaching staff for 2021 South Africa tour
- ^ "Wales appoint Steve Tandy as head coach to launch the post-Gatland era". The Guardian. Retrieved 21 July 2025.
- ^ "Wales name Tandy as new head coach". BBC Sport. Retrieved 21 July 2025.
