Coach Warren Gatland to leave Wales

Warren Gatland is set to leave his role as Wales head coach after a record 14 successive Test match defeats.

Gatland, 61, is contracted until the 2027 World Cup but was expected to depart at the end of the Six Nations.

He is now set to leave during the tournament with three games remaining, as Wales look for an interim head coach.

The Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) has approached Cardiff boss Matt Sherratt about taking on a caretaker coaching role for the tournament.

Attack coach Rob Howley has previously stepped into the top job when Gatland has been away on British and Irish Lions duty.

Wales face Ireland on 22 February in Cardiff, then travel to Scotland on 8 March before finishing the tournament at home against England on 15 March.

Former Australia coach Michael Cheika, Glasgow coach Franco Smith and Ireland interim boss Simon Easterby are potential long-term successors.

Gatland has presided over statistically the worst Wales side in their 144-year international rugby history, slumping to their 14th successive defeat as they lost 22-15 to Italy in Rome last weekend.

The New Zealander previously enjoyed a successful 12-year spell as Wales coach which included three Grand Slams, two World Cup semi-finals and a record run of 14 victories that led to Wales briefly topping the world rankings.

Gatland left after the 2019 Rugby World Cup before returning for a second stint in charge when he replaced Wayne Pivac in December 2022.

Since then Gatland has overseen six victories and 20 losses in 26 Tests, with a win ratio of just 23%. Wales have also slumped to a lowest position of 12th in the world rankings.

Over both spells Gatland has been in charge for 151 games with his overall record standing at 76 wins, 73 defeats and two draws.

Gatland came into the role and had to deal with the backdrop of financial problems in the Welsh game which led to a threatened strike by the players for the England match in February 2023.

That game went ahead but issues surrounding the financing of the professional game in Wales have continued.

Gatland managed just one win in the 2023 Six Nations, but the former British and Irish Lions coach did galvanise the Wales squad to reach the quarter-finals of the 2023 World Cup.

Wales have not won a Test match since beating Georgia in the pool stages of that tournament, with defeat by Argentina in the last eight marking the start of their miserable run.

In 2024, they finished bottom of the Six Nations for the first time in 21 years and lost 11 games overall, the first time Wales had not managed an international win in a calendar year since 1937.

Gatland had been coming under increasing pressure and scrutiny amid a wider debate about the structures underpinning the national team.

After the record home defeat by Australia in November 2024, former Wales captain Gwyn Jones said he thought Gatland had already “checked out”.