The Daily Mail's Peter Jackson, a man who generally knows these things, suggests player power forced Mike Ruddock out of the Wales job.

Others suggest his players were angry when Ruddock won the OBE for last year's historic Grand Slam while they did all the hard work.

That they showed their hand by leaving Ruddock to face the press alone in the post-match conference after Saturday's win over Scotland.

Blimey, given the way he's been treated, I wouldn't have thought player power or OBEs came into it.

As long as two months ago the first whispers around Ruddock's new contract were repeated here.

As far as I could see the Welsh Rugby Union were dithering over details on a contract due to expire after the Six Nations.

I was deluged by Welsh fans accusing me of trying to disrupt their Grand Slam defence. Surely, I said, the man who has just led Wales to their first Grand Slam in 27 years should get just about whatever he asks for?

But no. Instead, less than a year later, he's gone. And no new contract was ever signed.

Ruddock, on around £150,000 a year, came in on the back of two teak-tough coaches.

First the Great Redeemer Graham Henry knocked them into shape and lost the players.

Then Steve Hansen did a bit more of the same before the pair of them left to turn the All Blacks into the world-beating power they are today.

A pair of good coaches, not quite suited to the Welsh way of thinking.

Nobody expected Ruddock to achieve much with a disaffected squad playing largely for those disjointed Welsh clubs who spend most of their time losing in Europe when they're not involved in political squabbles about how things used to be in the good old days.

But somehow, against all the odds and on the back of the 2004 wooden spoon, Ruddock put together a side capable of upsetting England at the Millennium Stadium and beating both France and Ireland on the way to that rousing Grand Slam, a conquest which reduced grown men to tears throughout the valleys.

Football posts were coming down all over the place, rugby was back, Gavin Henson was on the front pages with Charlotte Church in a rugby shirt and Ruddock was a superhero.

But much like Terry Venables with England in the build-up to aftermath of Euro 96, Ruddock just didn't appear to fit the WRU's identikit of a national coach despite his obvious success.

Ruddock only ever won a Wales B cap, back in 1982.

He played for Blaina, Tredegar and Swansea as 'hard-nut flanker' but was forced to retire as a player at 26 after an accident at work.

As a young coach, he trid his hand at Cross Keys, Ireland's Bective rangers and coached Swansea from 1991 to 1996, winning the first ever Welsh League title in 1992.

Then came Leinster, Ireland A and Ebbw Vale before, in 2003, he took over the newly-formed Gwent Dragons and also coached Wales A.

Then, in March, 2004, fresh from finishing bottom of the Six Nations, Wales offered him the big job.

Now they've turned to Scott Johnson, the Australian skills coach, to see them through the remaining three games of the current Six Nations, starting with Ireland in Dublin on Sunday week. Ah, another Antipodean. That should work... just like it's worked for Scotland and Wales in the past. Not.

Having lost to England in this year's opener at Twickenham and beaten 14-man Scotland in Cardiff last week, it's going to be a tough baptism.

Gwent-born Ruddock, 45, is a former electricity board official who won 13 of his 20 Tests in charge, including the epic first victory over Australia for 18 years last November.

In what sounded curiously like a prepared statement, he said: "I can confirm I resigned for family reasons. On that basis, I have decided to withdraw from contract talks to take Wales to the 2007 World Cup in France. This has been a tough decision to make but I have decided to put my family first.

"What I have found during my two years as coach is that the position is more than a job. That has meant I have spent long periods away from my family, in camp and overseas. As a consequence, I felt the intense build-up to next year's World Cup would mean more time away from my family. That is something, on refection, I would like to avoid."

To me that reads: "The WRU have refused to give me what I deserve in my new contract. I'm going to have to sacrifice my family life in the build-up to the next World Cup, throw me a bone here."

But of course he didn't really say that. Where the player power stuff comes from, I've no idea.

I thought Ruddock ran a happy ship after the tough regimes enforced by Henry and Hansen, two of the grimmest and toughest Kiwis you could hope to meet. Their disciplinarian, fitness-first methods gave way to Ruddock's appeal for running rugby and a return to the happy valleys which seemed to work for players and fans alike.

Hansen himself says: "I think the player power thing's a lot of nonsense."

But what do I know? I do know that Ieuan Evans, the great ex-Wales wing, feels this way: "Was anyone unhappy? Was he unhappy? Was the union unhappy about something that has happened? Its strange and it's baffling. We are not quite sure of the reasons behind it. Obviously there are issues behind this. He has empowered the players. The foundation was laid by Steve Hansen to get the basics right, but Mike Ruddock has given them the freedom to express themselves. But last season Wales definitely also improved in the tight, so Mike must take credit for that too."

Jonathan Davies, a man who generally tells it like it is, says: "I don't think anyone really knows (why Ruddock has left). Mike is a proud and honest man and if it is personal you have to respect that and accept it. Knowing Mike he does not walk away from any challenges. Maybe there was resentment about him winning an OBE but only those in the squad will know that."

Ospreys coach Lynn Jones says: "There has been a big feelgood factor over the last two years in Wales and the Grand Slam was massive. We are all surprised at what is going on and I can't quite believe it, to be honest. We have a World Cup to prepare for and things seemed to be going according to plan, but it looks like we are going to take another U-turn."

WRU chairman David Pickering didn't touch on the contract issue, saying: "I'd like to say that Mike's place in Welsh rugby history is assured. He will go down as a fine ambassador, a wonderful coach and a fine gentleman. He brought great honour to himself, his family and his country." Amen.

And I suspect they'll regret not giving him a new contract big enough to keep him happy, no matter what the players or his family are up to.