It\u2019s the 20th anniversary of the end of that chapter in his career, but the memories remain both vivid and very fond.<\/p>\n
When I caught up with him at his home in a rural area of the Gold Coast of Queensland, an hour south of Brisbane, he repeatedly returned to the subject of Wales and just why he felt – and still feels – such an affinity for the country.<\/p>\n
He also revealed the inside story behind last year\u2019s speculation linking him with the WRU director of rugby job.<\/a><\/p>\n Born in 1962, Johnson grew up in Parramatta, in western Sydney, with his parents and three sisters.<\/p>\n \u201cI come from very much a working class background,\u201d he explains.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s really a blue collar story. My dad, Geoff, worked in a rubber plant.<\/p>\n \u201cHe had a big influence on me because he coached all the sport in the area. He kept us off the street largely. In those days, it was a rough area.<\/p>\n \u201cHe did a lot for social welfare with his coaching, keeping people distracted from other temptations.\u201d<\/p>\n Former Wales coach Scott Johnson went on to become Australia’s first director of rugby(Image: Atsushi Tomura\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n Initially starting out playing rugby league<\/a>, Johnson switched to Union and went on to line up at fly-half or centre for the NSW Waratahs, as well as having a spell with French club Toulon.<\/p>\n But tragedy struck when his wife Lesley passed away from acute leukaemia, aged just 26.<\/p>\n So, in his mid-twenties, he found himself widowed and a single parent of two children under three.<\/p>\n \u201cI lost my wife and I lost my father in succession. I lost my support network.<\/p>\n \u201cI was being encouraged to get into coaching, but I didn\u2019t feel I could do it as a single dad with two young kids.<\/p>\n \u201cBut people kept asking me. They believed in me and that\u2019s how it started.\u201d<\/p>\n So Johnson – a schoolteacher by profession – took up a post with Sydney club Penrith, which meant a regular three hour round trip from his home in Terrigal.<\/p>\n He progressed to an assistant\u2019s job with the Waratahs and also helped Australia A claim a famous victory over Graham Henry\u2019s British & Irish Lions in the summer of 2001.<\/p>\n Later that year, Wales boss Henry came knocking, handing him the role of skills coach and so began a life-changing experience.<\/p>\n \u201cIt opened my eyes,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n \u201cRugby from the white collar community never really suited me. I didn\u2019t know what a private school<\/a> was or anything like that. That to me was alien when I was growing up.<\/p>\n \u201cBut, when I went to Wales, I felt it was something I fitted into. I understood it. I realised this is the land\u2019s sport.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was working class people really enjoying the game. It was enlightening and enthralling to me and I loved every minute of it.<\/p>\n \u201cWales was the first place I felt a real affinity to rugby union culture.\u201d<\/p>\n Scott Johnson in his Wales days<\/p>\n When Henry quit in February 2002, Johnson found himself working alongside newly promoted head coach Steve Hansen and Kiwi fitness guru Andrew Hore.<\/p>\n It was to be a challenging period.<\/p>\n \u201cThe first year, we did things wrong,\u201d he admits.<\/p>\n \u201cAt the time, Australia and New Zealand were far and away the most dominant sides in the world.<\/p>\n \u201cI think there was an inclination to pretend we were coaching one of those two teams and that\u2019s where I felt we got it wrong.<\/p>\n \u201cWe needed to realise we weren\u2019t coaching them, we were coaching Wales. You\u2019ve got to work within the parameters you have got in front of you.<\/p>\n \u201cWe had to make adjustments, both culturally and looking at the group that we had.<\/p>\n \u201cWe weren\u2019t going to run over the top of people. We didn\u2019t have those big explosive players that could do that. We didn\u2019t have that type of athlete.<\/p>\n \u201cBut what we did have was very naturally skilful ones.<\/p>\n \u201cWe had to let them showcase what they had by playing a style of rugby which they were best equipped for.<\/p>\n \u201cPart of that was getting fitter because this was going to be a high tempo game, with high ball in play. That\u2019s where Andrew Hore came in.<\/p>\n \u201cSteve also saw that success lay in the generation underneath, so we had to withstand a bit of pain.\u201d<\/p>\n Steve Hansen talks with Scott Johnson at Welsh training session(Image: Huw Evans Agency)<\/p>\n There were certainly some painful times along the way as Wales suffered a then-record ten successive Test defeats.<\/p>\n As such, the message to Hansen ahead of the World Cup warm-up game against Scotland in August 2003 was very clear – win or you are out of the door.<\/p>\n But, despite this threat, he refused to change his experimental team selection.<\/p>\n \u201cI always believe you judge people in the dark times and we went through some dark times, but Steve was resolute and he was very brave,\u201d says Johnson.<\/p>\n \u201cHe felt we were on the right path. He said we are sticking to the plan, we are going to see it out.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s when he went up in my estimation ten fold. He put himself out there for what he believed was in the best interests of the nation, which I always admired.\u201d<\/p>\n Victory over Scotland meant Hansen kept his job and, during the World Cup that followed in Australia, the plan started to come together amid thrilling performances in defeat against New Zealand and England.<\/p>\n \u201cOnce we got over the banana skin of a potential loss to Italy, or something like that, we got confidence,\u201d said Johnson.<\/p>\n \u201cWe showed everyone what we could do and the type of rugby we were intending to play.<\/p>\n \u201cBut while the improvements were admirable, I don\u2019t think we were a genuine force to win it. It was still too early for that team.\u201d<\/p>\n Moving into 2004, Johnson became even more of a recognisable figure, with his long locks and the way he prowled the touchline in his shorts during games at the Millennium Stadium, geeing up the crowd.<\/p>\n Scott Johnson with the Welsh team during the 2005 Grand Slam(Image: David Rogers\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I was sitting up in the box with Steve, we would say the same things at the same time,\u201d he explains.<\/p>\n \u201cI felt one of us needed to get a different perspective.<\/p>\n \u201cSo he said \u2018How do you suggest we do it?\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cI said \u2018Mate, we need someone down on the ground\u2019.<\/p>\n \u201cSo he said \u2018All right, let\u2019s do it\u2019.<\/p>\n \u201cI was the kicking coach anyway, so it was legitimate for me to be down there to carry the tee on.<\/p>\n \u201cWe had that young team and I found they were pretty quiet by nature. I felt they needed support, so let\u2019s give them some. I wanted the players to know there were other people in the fight with them.<\/p>\n \u201cSo I was running up and down the sideline like a goose, getting in the fight.<\/p>\n \u201cIf I went out and had a beer with Welsh people in a pub, I loved their passion for it. They cared, so let\u2019s show the players that they care.<\/p>\n \u201cI became on a first name basis with people in the crowd!<\/p>\n \u201cI would be down the sideline and fans would say \u2018Gee us up, Johnno\u2019. So, it was let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n \u201cYou are a kid from Parramatta and you have got people from Wales telling you to gee them up. You are thinking what a weird and wonderful world we live in.\u201d<\/p>\n He added: \u201cThere were a couple of times where I finished up picking fights with the opposition.<\/p>\n \u201cAli Williams and I had a massive go through the New Zealand game that year. Every time I went on with the tee, I gave him lip and he was giving me lip back. We were into it. I had him biting.<\/p>\n \u201cTo be fair, after the game he came and gave me his shorts, his socks and all that.\u201d<\/p>\n Following a 2004 Six Nations<\/a> campaign which brought victories over Scotland and Italy, Hansen returned to New Zealand where he would be reunited with Henry at the helm of the All Blacks.<\/p>\n Mike Ruddock’s appointment and what happened next…<\/p>\n That saw Johnson now working with new Wales head coach Mike Ruddock.<\/p>\n \u201cThe partnership was different and I saw my role slightly differently,\u201d he recalls.<\/p>\n \u201cI was asked by the governing body to do something with Mike, to transition him in.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was his first hit out as an international coach, which has its own challenges. I wanted to make sure the baton was passed well.\u201d<\/p>\n After a victory over Argentina in Buenos Aires in the summer, along came the autumn and Johnson\u2019s favourite game during his time in the job, against Henry and Hansen\u2019s All Blacks in Cardiff<\/a>.<\/p>\n It was a week where he famously stole the headlines with his pre-match comment about New Zealand being \u201ca poxy little island in the Pacific\u201d, doubling down with an \u201capology\u201d where he said it was actually two islands!<\/p>\n \u201cSometimes you have got to think of a way to take pressure off people and put it on to somebody else,\u201d he explains.<\/p>\n \u201cI always saw New Zealand as adversaries, so I knew what I could tap into. It was a big game for the Welsh players. Graham and Steve were back there with the All Blacks.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was probably 70 per cent me getting the first punch in because I felt they would at some stage, but secondly it was me taking the heat off others.\u201d<\/p>\n Looking back, does he regret what he said?<\/p>\n \u201cNo, not in the slightest!\u201d he replies.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019d do it again now. It\u2019s a bit me-ish and I think it added to the week, didn\u2019t it?<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ll tell you the funniest story about that, which got me.<\/p>\n \u201cThe following year, I got a call from Clive Woodward asking me if I would come and join the Lions in New Zealand.<\/p>\n \u201cSo I flew over and went to get my passport checked through customs. They looked at me and then they walked away and I could see them in the distance talking and looking at my passport.<\/p>\n \u201cI was thinking \u2018Don\u2019t tell me it\u2019s out of date?\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cAnyway, this lady comes back with a really big Maori guy and she said \u2018We\u2019ll allow you into our poxy little island!\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cI thought \u2018Oh well, at least they\u2019ve got a sense of humour\u2019.<\/p>\n As for the actual match against the All Blacks in November 2004, well that proved to be a titanic affair with Wales threatening to pull off a historic victory before ultimately going down 26-25.<\/p>\n \u201cThat was my favourite game, without doubt,\u201d says Johnson.<\/p>\n \u201cI still say that\u2019s one of the best Test matches I\u2019ve ever seen. It was enthralling with the to-and-fro and the ebbing.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was a wonderful game. Sometimes games fly by very quickly and you don\u2019t get to view them as a spectacle because you are too immersed in it, but that one was an exception. It was just a really good game of footie.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was two very skilful, combative and genuinely competitive sides. It was such a great game.<\/p>\n \u201cOn the final whistle, three or four of the All Blacks, a handful of their superstars, hit the ground. They were exhausted, gone. They just laid on the ground. I thought to myself \u2018You don\u2019t see that much\u2019.<\/p>\n \u201cThat was where I saw the progress of that Welsh team. I felt we were one, two or three in the world now. We are not a million miles off this.\u201d<\/p>\n Mefin Davies is congratulated after scoring against New Zealand in 2004(Image: Huw Evans Picture Agency Cardiff)<\/p>\n His viewpoint was confirmed when Wales went on to complete the Six Nations clean-sweep in 2005, recording a first Grand Slam since 1978.<\/p>\n Johnson looks back on the 24-18 victory over France in Paris in round three as the pivotal moment.<\/p>\n \u201cThat game was out of reach really. They looked a class above us in the first 30 minutes.<\/p>\n \u201cBut then Nugget (Martyn Williams) turned it around and the confidence grew.<\/p>\n \u201cI remember at the end of the game, France had a scrum in our 22 and they were still within the points to win it. That showed grit to hold out there.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s when I knew we would win the Championship, after that game. We had beaten a big team over there.<\/p>\n \u201cThe players had an aura about them after that. They had confidence. You could see the growth in them.\u201d<\/p>\n The Slam was completed with a 32-20 victory over Ireland on a never-to-be-forgotten March day in Cardiff.<\/p>\n \u201cThe thing that always sticks with me about that game was we were leading by 12 points with about ten minutes to go and the crowd was really quiet,\u201d says Johnson.<\/p>\n \u201cI couldn\u2019t work it out. I was thinking \u2018F***, what are you doing?\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cBut because I had been in the country a while by then, I sort of sensed why.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was a cultural thing. It felt like they were thinking \u2018We could still lose this\u2019.<\/p>\n \u201cBut then they started singing. I looked up at the clock and there was only three minutes to go.<\/p>\n \u201cThey went through this little lull of \u2018We could still lose it\u2019 to \u2018We can\u2019t lose it\u2019.<\/p>\n \u201cI think that encapsulated the culture of the place. It sort of typified the country for me. The nervousness, they weren\u2019t used to winning, all that sort of stuff.<\/p>\n \u201cThere was that negativity or pessimism of \u2018Oh they are going to f*** this up\u2019 for three or four minutes.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd then that was superseded by \u2018We\u2019ve won, we are going to go berserk\u2019.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was great that people who had been through a hell of a lot in their sport, in their culture, got to share in that.<\/p>\n \u201cI could have sat there all day, that last bit, with all the singing.<\/p>\n \u201cI was exhausted by the end. You don\u2019t see me in photos after the game. I went back to the hotel and had a beer with the people at the Vale. It was all about the players then. Go and enjoy.<\/p>\n \u201cYou had these guys who had been battered, bruised and lacking in confidence at the start. To see where they got to and the men they became, it was pretty special to witness that growth. I see that as a privilege.\u201d<\/p>\n Gethin Jenkins scores for Wales against Ireland(Image: Media Wales)<\/p>\n Johnson picks out four members of that Welsh team for particular mention, starting with skipper Gareth \u2018Alfie\u2019 Thomas.<\/p>\n \u201cI always felt the most naturally gifted player I saw in Wales was Alfie.<\/p>\n![\"Former](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1_GettyImages-681443916-1.jpg\")
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