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ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Wales cameras follow Gareth Jenkins into the fire
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"What would really kill me, what would really knock me back, was if I
wasn't given an opportunity longer than two years. I don't think in two
years you can affect anything. If I was able to look back after four
years I could then say to myself you had your opportunity, you were given
the chance, have you made a difference?"
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So says Wales rugby union coach Gareth
Jenkins at the start of a special one-off ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Wales documentary Gareth
Jenkins: Into The Fire to be broadcast on ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ One Wales on Thursday 6
September 2007 at 10.35pm.
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ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Wales' cameras follow Jenkins during what will be a make or break
year for a man who was brought in to the job on a wave of public acclaim.
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When he was the coach of Llanelli he was the most successful coach in
Wales, but now it seems that dream is falling apart.
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It's the only job in Wales where you can inspire both devotion and hatred
in turns, hand-in-hand with the performance of the team.
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Nobody in the
job has ever seen out their tenure, they have always left before the end
of their contract.
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Sir Clive Woodward, former England rugby union coach, says: "Coaching in Wales is very, very difficult. It's probably one of the most
difficult jobs in world sport, just because of the amount of pressure you
are under."
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He adds: "If you win you get a pat on the back, if you don't you get shot."
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During the course of the programme we also learn that during the
disastrous Six Nations campaign even Jenkins had some doubts about his
own future.
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He says: "If the union felt as if I wasn't performing, and I wasn't
successful as a coach, they could have quite easily finished my contract
for me. Tongue in cheek you know, half way through the Six Nations, there
were times I was thinking, well I wonder you know?
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"But you've got to be positive, you've got to trust yourself, you've got
to back yourself. You have to, that's the business."
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The cameras also follow Jenkins as he tries to relax away from the
stresses and strains of his high profile international career at home in
Llanelli.
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"You come home from work and really you take work with you. There was a
feeling in my stomach for two days after the Scotland game, it's hard to
explain, but I think you've really got to be at the top end of sport to
fully understand, where your stomach churns.
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"It doesn't churn every minute of the day, but there are moments where
you go back to the rawness of the moments that really were unacceptable
to you. You just don't sleep."
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NP
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