Warren Gatland has left Wales following their hugely disappointing start to the 2025 Six Nations. The Kiwi, in his second stint as head coach of the rugby-mad nation, has left by mutual consent after two rounds of fixtures. It is rather unusual for a coach to leave their post mid-tournament but Wales’s results have been extraordinarily bad for a lengthy period and it now seems almost certain that they will collect the wooden spoon.
They opened with a 43-0 loss in Paris and whilst that was always expected to be a very tough game, the scale of the defeat was hard to take for many. Such is the dreadful state of Welsh rugby that their game against Italy, perennial wooden-spoon collectors (Italy have finished bottom of the pile 18 times in the 25 editions of the Six Nations), had taken on huge significance.
The clash in Rome was one they simply had to win and they didn’t, losing 22-15. Amazingly, that was Wales’s 14th loss in a row, setting a very unwanted record. According to Abi Tierney, Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) chief executive, it was Gatland who initiated the talks, the Kiwi realising that it was best for all involved for a change of leadership to happen as soon as possible.
Gatland will be succeeded, in the short term, by Cardiff boss Matt Sherratt. The Englishman will act as interim boss for the remaining three matches of this Six Nations before a more thorough search for a permanent replacement.
14 and Out: Wales’s Terrible Form
Warren Gatland’s second tenure as Wales head coach has ended by mutual agreement ❌ pic.twitter.com/IZIG8nPqOT
— ITV Rugby (@ITVRugby) February 11, 2025
Clearly the Six Nations defeats were just the straws that broke the camel’s already heavily ladened back and Wales’s terrible form goes back much further. They last won a game of rugby way back on the 7th of October, 2023 at the World Cup. Back then things were looking decidedly rosy as they topped Pool C winning four out of four games to finish above Fiji, Australia, Portugal and Georgia (the latter being the last team they beat).
However, they were beaten by Argentina in the quarters, just as their fans might have begun to dream about glory. They lost all five games at the following year’s Six Nations to collect the wooden spoon for the second time in that format of the competition and 18th overall. The fifth loss of the tournament came at home to Italy and was particularly galling, with only two late converted tries for the hosts giving the score a veneer of respectability.
Further losses, both home and away, followed during 2024, with defeat at the Millennium Stadium against Fiji, then hammerings by more than 30 points against Australia and South Africa, seeing Wales plumbing new depths. The two terrible results of this year’s Six Nations followed and then, just when Welsh rugby fans thought it couldn’t get any worse, an Englishman was installed as the new boss!
- Wales 17-29 Argentina, 14 October 2023
- Wales 26-27 Scotland, 3 February 2024
- England 16-14 Wales, 10 February 2024
- Ireland 31-7 Wales, 24 February 2024
- Wales 24-45 France, 10 March 2024
- Wales 21-24 Italy, 16 March 2024
- South Africa 41-13 Wales, 22 June 2024
- Australia 25-16 Wales, 6 July 2024
- Australia 36-28 Wales, 13 July 2024
- Wales 19-24 Fiji, 10 November 2024
- Wales 20-52 Australia, 17 November 2024
- Wales 12-45 South Africa, 23 November 2024
- France 43-0 Wales, 31 January 2025
- Italy 22-15 Wales, 8 February 2025
Next up Wales will face a home game against Ireland, with the Irish chasing a Grand Slam. After that they head north to Scotland before finishing the 2025 Six Nations with a home game against England. Such is their form, morale and confidence right now, it is hard to see them getting anything from those three but who knows – they do have a habit of raising their game for the English?
Gatland Goes from Hero to Zero
Gatland, from Hamilton in the North Island of New Zealand, has had a brilliant coaching career. Even after the torrid spell he endured with Wales, his reputation should just about survive, and there are sure to be plenty of sides willing to give him a job. He will, despite the events of the past couple of years, go down as one of the game’s great coaches.
But where did it go wrong for the man who led Wasps to three Premiership titles in succession between 2003 and 2005, adding the European Challenge Cup in 2003 and the Heineken Cup the following season? His first stint as Wales boss, from late in 2007 to 2019, was an almost total success.
Four Six Nations Titles
He helped them win four Six Nations titles, with three of those being Grand Slams, whilst they also finished second in the table twice. His very first game in charge set the tone for what was to come, as Wales beat England at Twickenham for the first time since 1988. That was the first step towards the Grand Slam at his first attempt with Wales, whilst in his first World Cup with them, they went to the semi finals (in 2011).
At the next World Cup they defied injuries and a tough draw to make it to the quarters, whilst in 2019 they again made it to the last four but were beaten by eventual champions South Africa. Amidst all this Gatland coached the British and Irish Lions to some fine results and this prolonged spell of success made him one of the most sought-after coaches in world rugby.
A Downward Trajectory
However, perhaps what happened with Wales second time around was not such a surprise. In the summer (northern hemisphere summer at any rate) of 2019, Gatland headed back to his home town of Hamilton to coach the Chiefs. It was a disaster, particularly his first season where his side lost all eight matches. He also came into a Wales side that had a lot of issues and had struggled under previous coach Wayne Pivac.
Whilst the 2023 World Cup offered some hope, the results there were very much the exception rather than the rule. The Kiwi offered to resign after Wales’s dreadful Six Nations in 2024 but the powers that be had faith in him due to his first spell and the World Cup results.
It now seems that faith was misplaced, with Gatland overseeing the nation’s worst run of results ever. Wales have dropped to 12th in the world rankings, their lowest-ever position, with Gatland’s second spell bringing just six wins in 26 games. There was an increasing feeling that his heart wasn’t in the job and he had lost the dressing room. He simply had to go, but it is hoped that in time Wales fans will remember him for the good times of the first spell, rather than the horrors of the second.