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LAST UPDATE | 11 Feb
WALES HAVE CONFIRMED they have parted company with head coach Warren Gatland by ‘mutual consent’ following a run of 14 straight defeats.
Gatland approached the Wales Rugby Union on Monday to discuss his future following their 22-15 loss to Italy.
Cardiff Rugby head coach Matt Sherratt has been appointed as head coach for the final three matches of the 2025 Guinness Six Nations.
The Welsh have lost their opening two games of the 2025 Six Nations, 43-0 to France and 22-15 to Italy, and are currently ranked an all-time low 12th in the world rankings, sandwiched between Georgia and Japan.
Gatland was contracted until 2027 in his second stint at the helm but had a break clause in his contract.
His departure means that Sherratt will be in charge when they host Ireland at the Principality Stadium on Saturday 22 February.
Kiwi Gatland coached Wales from 2008 to 2019 and experienced huge success, winning Grand Slams in 2008, 2012 and 2019 and a further Six Nations title in 2013.
He was rehired by the ailing Welsh Rugby Union in 2022, replacing the under-fire Wayne Pivac, but Wales have endured misery since a decent showing at the 2023 Rugby World Cup.
In all, they have won just six of 26 matches during Gatland’s second stint in charge, and their run of 14 consecutive defeats is the worst in the country’s history.
“The WRU and Warren have agreed that making this change now is in the best interests of the Wales squad as it continues to compete in the 2025 Six Nations tournament,” said Welsh Rugby Union CEO Abi Tierney.
Tierney confirmed that Sherratt will return to Cardiff after the Six Nations campaign and that the WRU’s intention is to have a permanent replacement by the time of this summer’s two-test tour of Japan.
Sherratt became Cardiff Rugby head coach in 2023 but has also been attack coach and coached at the Ospreys, Bristol and Worcester.
“I would like to thank the WRU Board for the faith shown in me after a tough campaign throughout 2024 and affording me the time and resource to try to turn things around for this 2025 tournament,” Gatland said.
“We have worked hard, we have a talented young squad that is developing and have been desperate to turn potential into results but now is the right time for a change”.
“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. I wish whoever takes over all the best for the future.
“Finally, I want to say a big thank you to the Welsh fans.”
Written by Gavan Casey and originally published on The 42 whose award-winning team produces original content that you won’t find anywhere else: on GAA, League of Ireland, women’s sport and boxing, as well as our game-changing rugby coverage, all with an Irish eye. Subscribe here.
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A nice fella but you can only ‘work with’ what you’ve got & Wales are seriously lacking quality in midfield/ attack. There’s a mountain of work to be done getting Wales back to the level of being serious contenders. I’d wish Warren Gatland all the best in his future endeavours but felt he had ‘ bitten off’ more than he could chew with Wales this time around
@Chutes Eejit: You are quite the bluffer. ‘Seriously lacking quality in midfield/ attack’: did you think he was a soccer coach?
@Chutes Idiot: non stop drivel.
@Brendan O’Brien: Troll R’ us : hehe, all your accounts on overdrive today brens? Warren IS a great coach with a wealth of managerial experience behind him & again I’d wish him every good fortune in his future endeavours. At a guess I’d say my cat knows more about RU than any of your accounts
@Chutes Idiot: you’re so right. Wales just need a new goalkeeper and someone who can head-the-ball (maybe yourself) and they’ll win the Triple Crown for sure!
@Philip Kennedy: Take it easy. Unlike you, he expressed a considered and respectful opinion.
@Jonathan Sheridan: He’s the Journal’s resident parasite, also commenting as ‘Luke Littler’ on this article.
@Jonathan Sheridan: careful there Ted, brenny is our own multi account liar & troll supremo.he & all his accounts are ALWAYS right ….. if you go against this narrative he’ll just deflect & call you a troll
@Chutes Eejit: Nobody believes you.
@Brendan O’Brien: Trolls R’ us : like I’d care???? You’ve been exposed so many times as a lying multi account troll I wouldn’t believe a word u type
@Brendan O’Brien: Is he not correct? Nick Tompkins has been off the boil for a good while now and Eddie James is simply too young and inexperienced. With George North now retired, they don’t have a leader in the centres and Ben Thomas, who’s probably the best 12 that they have, is playing fly-half for some bizarre reason why Dan Edwards sits on the bench for the first 60 minutes. The attacking shape that Wales have is also really poor and it’s just one-up runners with no pod structures in the forward whatsoever that gives the opposition back-row easy pickings in the ruck. The distribution to the wings is far too slow and all opposition teams have to do is hit them hard on the rush defence that chokes them in the wide channels. Josh Adams is their best player and he can’t get any ball.
A great coach with a poor squad…grass roots rugby isn’t there in Wales so the pipeline is dry. Sad state of affairs for a proud rugby nation. Best wishes to Warren.
@Luke Littler: If you knew anything about Welsh rugby, you’d know that “this squad” haven’t fallen anywhere, because they’re new. They were never “up” to come down. But you don’t know anything about Welsh rugby, do you?
@Luke Littler: no it’s not “in their blood”. It’s in proper underage structures, training academies, a strong club set up and good finances. International managers get a very limited window of time with players. If the basics aren’t there then there’s no hope. Wales version 1 under Gatland had world class players which are not to be found in this Welsh team. “In their blood” is just reductive and simplistic throwaway comment.
@Luke Littler: thanks for that meaningless word salad
Getting out before that Ireland team gives him the biggest kicking of his professional career. Would definitely chaff considering his acrimonious exit from the Irish job.
Handy few quid for him anyway. Come in, lose all the time, no expectation to improve the team, fans will still love him and blame the union instead. He collects a paycheck and heads off into the sunset.
@Don Johnson:
Ye… He was on £600k a year… Was in charge for 2 years?
Thats £1.2m and won nothing… Saw no real sign of any improvement… Was really this the place to spend money… He was better paid than Andy Farrell (Basic Salary), Gregor Townsend,… But saying that, it did cost him his reputation…
Fabien Galthié is paid more than him..
Probably better be left before his legacy at Wales was destroyed, not to mention two successful Lions tours. Has to be mentioned as well that he kick started the revolution in Irish rugby while managing us from 1998 to 2001. He was disgracefully treated by the IRFU, who for some unbelievable reason got rid of him in order to bring in that spoofer Eddie O’Sullivan.
@The Firestarter: In fairness, Eddie O’Sullivan was correct when he said: ‘You can’t fire a cannon out of a canoe.’ – most applicable in this case when it comes to the current Welsh setup.
@Noel Furlong: I’d still take Gatland all day long over O’Sullivan.
@The Firestarter: Agreed but I didn’t say O’Sullivan wasn’t a spoofer. I was merely stating that he made a valid point.
@The Firestarter: while Gatland was mistreated by the IRFU, I dont think you can credit him with the revolution of Irish rugby, that came with professionalism and structures but in place by Sid Millar. Even though IRFU voted against professionalism, they were ready to enbrace it. Could have gone down the Welsh route and used Clubs (not provinces) but stayed strong against the clubs and promoted the provinces as professional teams, could have done same as Scots (who had 4 teams as well at the time) and redeveloped a dilipated stadium, but made the provinces viabale and then redeveloped Lansdowne, SRU did Murrayfield first and had to cut one then 2 teams, we could be easily in same boat as Welsh with infighting clubs, or Scots reduced to 2 teams, but we got it all correct under Sid,
@The Firestarter: you can’t unring a bell
The WRU board need to go too, they made sure Warren Gatland won’t get many Managerial opportunities in the future.
In a professional sport when you are having success one always needs to plan ahead unfortunately Wales when they had a good team failed to give the proper investment and are paying a heavy price.
His high attrition Warren ball strategy worked a treat when he had fast and strong runners including Jamie Roberts and George North. Introducing Shaun Edwards’s blitz defence and they were bloody hard to beat. In my opinion he was a one trick pony who never tried any other styles and his Lions tour of SA was some of the most negative boring rugby I’ve ever watched. I also feel he is an ego maniac and it was always about him. Glad to see the back of him and no doubt many in Wales are as well.
It’s a pity Wales have fallen so far it was always a game I looked forward to for the rivalry and attritional performances from both teams.Hope they bounce back soon
Worst Wales team of all time the talent just isn’t there at the moment. And unfortunately for him he can only work with what he has.
@Martin Ridge: they had arguably a worse team in the late 90’s – I saw France beating them by 50 points in a 5 nations match in 1998. And I read today that South Africa beat them by 90 points in the same year!
@Kevin Kerr: That’s right very true
The two legged pit ponies are toast.
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