| Birth name | Steve Tandy | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Date of birth | 16 January 1980 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Tonmawr, Neath Port Talbot, Wales | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 184 cm (6 ft 0 in) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 103 kg (16 st 3 lb; 227 lb)[ citation needed ] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Steve Tandy (born 16 January 1980) is a Welsh rugby union former player and coach. He is the current head coach for the Wales national team having previously coached for the Ospreys and Scotland. [1]
Tandy played as an openside flanker for Neath RFC [2] and the Ospreys. Injuries impacted his career. He never played for Wales despite impressing at regional level. [3] [4]
While still a player, Tandy took his first coaching role within the Ospreys age-grade teams, and as coach of the U16s he won the WRU Age Grade Championship.[ citation needed ]
For the 2010–11 season, Tandy combined his playing role with the Ospreys with the head coach role at Bridgend RFC. 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 then guided them into the Principality Premiership with victory over Glamorgan Wanderers 38–19 at the Cardiff Arms Park. He continued to coach Bridgend Ravens for season 2011/12 but retired from playing the game.[ citation needed ] They finished 8th in their first year back in the Welsh Premier Division.
In December 2019, it was announced Tandy would be joining Scottish Rugby as defence coach for the national side. [5] Tandy joined from Super Rugby side Waratahs, where he led the side’s defence as the main proponent of the NSW Waratahs’ ‘blue wall’.
In July 2025, he was announced as the new Wales head coach. [6] 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. [7]
Tandy is married with three daughters. Family considerations were a reason why he turned down a Wales tour coaching opportunity in 2017. [8]