Rob Howley followed Warren Gatland out of the Wales set-up on Thursday as the country’s national squad undergoes a major mid-Six Nations coaching and playing reshuffle.
On Tuesday, Gatland departed his head coach role by mutual agreement after presiding over a record run of 14 straight international defeats. The experienced New Zealander has been replaced for the rest of the 2025 Championship by Cardiff’s Matt Sherratt on an interim basis. In the meantime, Welsh Rugby Union chief executive Abi Tierney has begun a long-term search for his successor.
The WRU confirmed that while Howley remains under contract with them, he won’t be involved in Wales’ remaining games with Ireland, Scotland and England.
Sherratt, meanwhile, has made an immediate impression by calling up Gloucester backs Gareth Anscombe and Max Llewellyn and Harlequins fly-half Jarrod Evans.
Experienced No 10 Anscombe and Llewellyn were surprising omission from Gatland’s Six Nations squad when it was named last month, but have now been recalled. However, in a blow to Wales, full-back Liam Williams has been released due to a knee injury. So too has centre Owen Watkin.
At a hastily-arranged press conference on Tuesday afternoon, the WRU hierarchy confirmed a decision on the future of Gatland’s incumbent assistants would be made in the coming days. Howley has now moved on, but it looks likely Neil Jenkins, Mike Forshaw and Jonathan Humphreys will stay in place until mid-March at least.
Wales assistant Rob Howley has left the team days after the departure of Warren Gatland
Gatland and Howley, pictured in 2011, have been long-term colleagues and close friends
Wales are suffering amid a 14-game losing streak in Test matches and are on course for the wooden spoon in the Six Nations
Sherratt, who is still coaching Cardiff this week before joining the Wales set-up full time on Monday, is an experienced attack coach. So, it is no real surprise he and Howley aren’t going to work together moving forward given they both operate in the same specialist area.
Gatland and Howley have been long-term colleagues and close friends.
They first started together at Wasps, when Howley was still playing as a decorated scrum-half before joining forces with Wales and the British & Irish Lions to have unprecedented success.
Together, they headed up a golden era of Welsh rugby between 2008 and 2019.
When Gatland returned as Wales head coach for a second stint in late 2022, he wanted to bring Howley back with him straight away, but the move was initially blocked by the WRU.
That’s because Howley had been banned for betting breaches which were uncovered at the 2019 World Cup and led to his immediate departure from that tournament in Japan.
Howley did eventually – and rightly – rejoin the WRU in December 2023 in a role which saw him work with Gatland’s national set-up as well as with Wales’ Under-20 side and pathway operation.
It remains to be seen whether or not Howley will continue with the latter part of his role moving forwards. Michael Cheika, Franco Smith and Simon Easterby are coaches of interest to the WRU for the long-term but whoever comes in, it is likely they will want to appoint their own back-room team.
Matt Sherratt has been appointed on an interim basis until the end of the Six Nations
Sherratt has admitted openly that he does not wish to take on the job on a full-time basis
Sherratt has said he does not want the job full time.
The call-ups of Anscombe, Evans and Llewellyn point to Sherratt totally rejigging the Welsh back-line for next Saturday’s daunting game with Grand Slam-chasing Ireland.
Under Gatland, Ben Thomas started the 43-0 and 22-15 defeats by France and Italy respectively at No 10.
But Sherratt coaches Thomas at Cardiff and has always seen him as an inside centre, so it is likely he will move to 12 for Ireland, possibly alongside Llewellyn in midfield.
That would leave one of Anscombe, Evans or Dan Edwards to start as playmaker. Edwards has won his first two Wales caps as a replacement in this year’s Six Nations.
Anscombe and Llewellyn were both in Wales’ autumn squad, but Evans hasn’t played for his country since the summer of 2021 despite some fine form for Harlequins as back-up to England ace Marcus Smith.
