that he found it "very difficult to work with the group of people that manage Welsh rugby at this time"; however, he retained his aspirations of coaching Wales ahead of an extraordinary general meeting in April 2006. The WRU opened applications for the head coach position immediately after the final game of the Six Nations, with the players said to favour caretaker coach Scott Johnson. Former Italy coach John Kirwan expressed interest in the role, before ruling himself out, as did Cardiff Blues coach Dai Young, Western Force coach John Mitchell and Crusaders coach Robbie Deans, again leaving Jenkins as the leading contender on a six-man shortlist also believed to include Leeds Tykes director of rugby Phil Davies. On 27 April, after receiving assurances regarding the selection process, Jenkins was named as the new Wales coach on a two-year contract. Jenkins said he was proud to take the Wales job, but that it was difficult to leave the Scarlets after 37 years of involvement in Llanelli rugby. Phil Davies was appointed as Jenkins' successor as the Scarlets' director of rugby. Jenkins' first duty as Wales coach was a two-test tour of Argentina in June 2006, for which he picked an inexperienced squad with an average age of 24. They lost the series 2–0; a 27–25 defeat in Puerto Madryn was followed by a 45–27 loss in Buenos Aires. On that tour, he gave an international debut to lock Alun Wyn Jones, who went on to become the most-capped player in rugby history. After returning from Argentina, delayed by a lost passport, Jenkins' first home test match saw a creditable 29–29 draw with Australia to start the 2006 Autumn internationals, followed by comfortable wins over the Pacific Islanders and Canada, before a 45–10 loss to New Zealand. In the 2007 Six Nations, Wales lost four of their five matches, including a 23–20 defeat against Italy; after that match, Jenkins criticised the officials for miscommunicating the amount of time left in the game as Wales spurned an opportunity to kick a penalty that would have tied the scores, instead opting to kick to touch in search of a game-winning try. Jenkins finally got a victory on the final day of the championship, beating England 27–18 to deny them the championship, while also avoiding the wooden spoon. A test match series in Australia followed, which was lost 2–0 despite leading the first test