Griffiths and Ruddock have a close working relationship

"The huge positive under Mike was that Wales won a first Grand Slam for 27 years," said Griffiths, Ruddock's side kick with Wales and now with Worcester.

"That was under a Welshman, not under foreign coaches Graham Henry, Steve Hansen or Scott Johnson."

Thomas claims the side was "running itself" before Ruddock took over.

606: DEBATE Sums the players up, Alfie and Llewellyn two senior pros whingeing like big kids JB1973

The Grand Slam skipper, writing in his forthcoming book "Alfie!", says that the foundations were laid by Hansen, although the Kiwi won just 10 of his 29 games in charge.

Thomas says that personal and professional standards in the squad slipped under Ruddock and that Hansen was a superior technical coach, a claim supported by ex-Wales lock Gareth Llewellyn.

Worcester coach Ruddock maintained a silence after his controversial exit as Wales coach in 2006, but he has defended his record after the recent attacks.

"Without the focus [I put] on defence and the scrum, I don't think we would have won the Grand Slam," Ruddock told the Western Mail.

"Changes needed to be made in the composition of the management team and in team selection.

"I brought Clive back to improve defence and he did a brilliant job. I also thought that Gavin Henson should have a place in the team.

I always left the 'house-keeping' to my team manager so that I could focus totally on rugby preparation, selection and video analysis Mike Ruddock

"There is no doubt that Hansen did a lot of work in shaping the future, but the team had been leaking too many players and a major fault in the forwards was too many players being picked out of position.

"My results stand for themselves and I am comfortable that I made a positive contribution. The Grand Slam was very much a team effort from everybody."

Ruddock was more dismissive of criticism in Thomas' book that he had not clamped down on players' personal standards, with dressing rooms left in a mess, bar bills going unpaid and half-full water bottles being discarded.

"Those were not areas I tended to focus on," said Ruddock.

"I always left the 'house-keeping' to my team manager [Alan Phillips] so that I could focus totally on rugby preparation, selection and video analysis."

Griffiths says he is disappointed that these issues are continuing to distract Welsh rugby.

"We're stirring the pot again, it's disappointing that players have come out with that after what was such a successful time for Welsh rugby," he told BBC Sport Wales.

"I don't think we're respecting Welsh talent enough, there are quality coaches in Wales and we are not tapping into them.