Richard Hodges spent 20 years working in Welsh rugby and cites the late Kevin Bowring – Wales’ first professional coach – as his inspiration.
But on Saturday, he will be looking to defeat the country with whom he has such a close affinity as part of an Italian set-up who are favourites for victory in Rome.
After more than a decade with Cardiff preceded eight years as a Welsh Rugby Union employee, Hodges is now employed as Italy’s defence coach.
‘The WRU put me in touch with Kev years ago and he was my confidant and mentor from a coaching perspective,’ said Hodges, who is English but has come through the Welsh system. ‘The conversation I had with him was that I wanted to be an international defence coach by 2025. That’s managed to work itself out.
‘It was absolutely tragic what happened with Kev last year. I was with him the day before he fell ill. We’d gone to Gloucester to watch them train. It’s been a tough one for me to get over, but obviously for his friends and family it’s been even worse.
‘I think on a daily basis about him and what he would do or what his advice would be for the situations I find myself in. I will always remember the coffees we’d have in Magor Services.
Richard Hodges spent over 20 years in Welsh rugby but will take on Wales this weekend
After more than a decade with Cardiff and eight years with the Welsh Rugby Union, he is now working with Italy
He will use his idol and former friend, the late Kevin Bowring, as inspiration for success against Wales this weekend
‘I want to do Kev proud and do justice to all the advice he gave me. I’m just glad he knew I’d got to international level before he passed away.
‘I and so many other coaches are so grateful for the help he gave.’
Hodges’ past is with Wales. But his present is with the Azzurri. His detailed knowledge of both camps makes him a fascinating interviewee ahead of the Stadio Olimpico clash.
Wales have lost their last 13 Tests. Their glorious successes of the past – which came at a time when Hodges worked in their pathway systems – now seem ancient history.
A 14th successive Welsh international defeat on Saturday would almost undoubtedly spell the end of Warren Gatland’s second tenure as head coach.
‘I’ve got a lot of friends in the Welsh group. I speak to their coaches and players almost on a weekly basis. But I haven’t really thought about that this week,’ Hodges said.
‘We’ve both lost our opening games and the Six Nations is brutal. If you lose your first two, it gets very, very tough. My focus has been all on Italy this week.
‘If I’m honest, I’m not missing Welsh rugby. It does make me sad to see what’s happened, but I don’t think it’s too difficult to understand how you get back to success.’
Warren Gatland’s side are on a record run of 13 consecutive losses, with this weekend a must-win game
Hodges said he has ‘a lot of friends’ in the Welsh group but hasn’t thought about that this week
Hodges and his family have thrown themselves full tilt into life in Italy. After a short stint with the country’s club side Zebre, he was quickly promoted to Gonzalo Quesada’s full international set-up.
‘Our home is still in Wales. We do see ourselves going back there, but not for the foreseeable future,’ Hodges said. ‘I’ve got 25 friends arriving in Rome from Wales for the game. We’re lock stock and barrel out here as a family. My kids go to European school in Parma and are taught in English. We’ve thrown ourselves into it 24/7.
‘I’d struggle to come back to the UK now. It’s 21 degrees here today and I’m sat out in shorts and a tee shirt. The European weather changes everything. It’s changed my outlook on life.
‘There are little things out here that are just fantastic. We rent a lovely little flat and all the bills are included which helps massively with the cost of living. It costs half what it does at home to fill the car up. The way of life here is different. It’s very much slower.
‘The Italian players do mostly speak good English, but I’ve come to their country, so it’s on me to speak their language. That’s why I’m trying to learn as much as I can.
‘I’m having lots of lessons, but my one today was terrible! It’s given me a headache. I need to go and lie in a dark room for an hour!
‘Learning the language is a really big thing for me. This time last year last year I was nowhere with it so when I do get frustrated, I do have to remind myself I’m making progress.’
After helping improve the fortunes of traditional United Rugby Championship whipping boys Zebre, Hodges and Quesada are now bringing a more combative, competitive edge to Italy at international level. Italy have beaten Wales in two of their last three meetings.
Hodges said he can’t see himself returning to the UK any time soon with a new outlook on life
Italy themselves lost their first match of the Six Nations – losing the first two makes things tough for any side
‘I was in a pretty safe job and under contract with Cardiff,’ Hodges said. ‘But if we were to look at going abroad as a family, it had to be now.
‘Zebre really intrigued me because they’d been terrible for 18 months and hadn’t won a game. They couldn’t really have got any worse.
‘I really enjoyed that but the reason I think I got the job with Italy was because Zebre were a team that just attacked from everywhere, but they had little or no defence or kick strategy. ‘Italy got beat by lots of points by New Zealand and France at the 2023 World Cup, so were similar in a way.
‘With Italy now we might not win every game, but in almost all matches we’re in it going into the final 20.’
While Wales’ pathway systems have badly regressed, Italy’s have gone the other way and before the Six Nations, their best club side Benetton claimed a statement result by beating French giants La Rochelle to qualify for the knock-out stages of the Champions Cup.
Benetton’s players also form the heart of the Italian side. It remains a quirk that the Azzurri have never won a second-round match in the Six Nations.
But they should be confident of changing that this weekend. Last Saturday, their 2025 opener saw them beaten 31-19 by Scotland in Edinburgh.
‘I expect us to be a lot better this weekend. It does seem to take us a game to get up to speed,’ Hodges said.
‘On our summer tour, we had a car crash first game against Argentina but won our next one and then pushed New Zealand all the way.’
Hodges has come a long way since first coaching club rugby in Wales with Glamorgan Wanderers. Bowring would surely be justly proud of his progression to international level, even if it meant trying to defeat a proud rugby nation which gave them both so much.
