Warren Gatland leaves Wales job after dismal second stint as head coach

Wales have appointed Cardiff’s Matt Sherratt as interim head coach after Warren Gatland’s second spell as head coach abruptly ended on Tuesday. Gatland has paid the price for Wales’s dismal recent record, having presided over the worst losing run in the country’s 144-year international rugby history.

Saturday’s 22-15 defeat by Italy was Wales’s 14th successive Test loss and its predictable nature prompted a series of former Wales internationals to call for something to change. Gatland, 61, had been contracted until the 2027 World Cup but has now departed “by mutual agreement”. The Welsh Rugby Union’s chief executive, Abi Tierney, described the decision as being “in the best interests of the Wales squad”.

The Gloucester-born Sherratt, 55, has previously worked for Worcester, Bristol and the Ospreys before taking over as Cardiff’s head coach in 2023. He also had a short stint with Wales in 2017 and will now take charge of the nation’s final three Six Nations fixtures. Longer-term candidates to replace Gatland could include the Wales-based Simon Easterby, currently in temporary charge of Ireland with Andy Farrell focused on coaching the British & Irish Lions in Australia this year, or Glasgow’s Franco Smith.

The WRU wants the new permanent head coach to be in charge prior to this summer’s two-Test tour to Japan and say “all options are open” regarding Gatland’s successor. “We are grateful to Warren for all he has done for the game in Wales,” said Tierney. “He remains our longest-serving and most decorated head coach in terms of the silverware he has won.”

The announcement brings down the curtain on a long and eventful era. The New Zealander helped to steer Wales to three Grand Slams, two World Cup semi-finals and a record sequence of 14 victories in his successful 12-year initial stint in charge but has not been able to conjure something similar second time around.

Even Gatland has acknowledged it is “the right time for a change” having presided over just six victories in 26 Tests, with a win ratio of just 23%, since replacing Wayne Pivac in December 2022. “I’ve reached the end of this particular chapter, but I remain grateful to all those in Wales who have supported me, to all the players who have played for me and to all those around me, especially my management team, who have contributed to what we have achieved over the years.” Overall he was in charge of Wales for 151 games which yielded 76 wins, 73 defeats and two draws.

Whoever takes over from him will have their work cut out. Wales have also sunk below Georgia to 12^th in the world rankings, their lowest-ever position, and their next fixture is against Six Nations front-runners Ireland on Saturday week. The WRU had previously backed Gatland to remain but Tierney made clear results needed to improve. “Like any head coach in any sport he knows the security of his position is directly related to the performances of the team,” said Tierney.

It is all a far cry from Wales’s glory days under Gatland, who has also successfully coached the British & Irish Lions and was in charge of Ireland between 1998 and 2001. Only last month he acknowledged this season had been “a challenging time” but insisted he would be sticking to the methods that had previously served him well. “It has been tough. You do question yourself. For me it’s also about looking back and asking why have we been successful? You have to trust your own instincts and experience.”

Gatland also had a track record as an excellent selector and motivator, as underlined by Johnny Sexton in his autobiography Obsessed. “What I liked about him was that he had a good sense of what players needed and wanted. I liked the way he talked, liked the buttons he pressed. I wouldn’t rate him as highly as Joe [Schmidt] or Andy [Farrell] as a technical coach but those two are among the best ever. As a manager and a selector I thought Gats was quality.”

He was certainly a hard-nosed strategist who, despite hailing from Waikato, developed a real affinity with Wales and its people. He knew how much rugby meant to them and, conversely, how much it hurt when the national team were losing, regardless of the playing resources at their disposal.

The question that will now be being asked is whether jettisoning the head coach will make a discernible difference. Off-field politics and financial issues continue to undermine Welsh rugby and the loss of a clutch of now-retired senior players has made Gatland’s job even harder. “Sometimes you ask the question: are players today as resilient as they might have been?” he said last month. “Not just me but all the coaches are conscious of the way we speak to the players and the language we use in terms of not knocking their confidence.”

The former England wing and Guardian columnist Ugo Monye, however, believes the players lost faith in Gatland a while ago. “I reckon the Welsh players have switched off,” he told The Sports Agents podcast. “I’ve been in those positions. You’re listening to the coach and you’re just rolling your eyes.”