SIMON EASTERBY tops Wales’ wishlist to replace Warren Gatland.
Matt Sherratt has been put in caretaker charge after Saturday’s loss to Italy stretched the Dragons’ record run of defeats to 14 — and proved the last straw for Gatland.
Wales were lucky to only 22-15 to a far superior Italian team on Saturday[/caption]
But the Cardiff coach ruled himself out as a full-time successor.
Easterby lined out for Llanelli and then Scarlets for more than a decade, captaining the Welsh regional side for five seasons.
And the Ireland interim head coach is the man the WRU want.
Gatland contacted union chief Abi Tierney and offered to go after the Azzurri loss, just as he did when Wales were whitewashed in last year’s Six Nations.
This time, she accepted his resignation.
Tierney insisted the WRU have the money to attract a big name and she has put Sherratt in charge for the rest of the campaign.
The Cardiff chief faces a daunting task in trying to raise spirits ahead of next week’s clash with Easterby’s Grand Slam-chasing Ireland in the Welsh capital.
Sherratt said: “It is going to be very difficult to change a huge amount technically and tactically in what will probably be three or four sessions before we play Ireland.
“If there’s a lack of belief, or fear, it’ll be hard to change things tactically. We can get a mindset shift.
“It feels a bit like when I started with Cardiff. They were at a low ebb. So it will be about changing the mindset.”
Sherratt will report for Wales duty next Monday after taking charge of Cardiff’s URC clash with Connacht on Saturday.
Gatland, 61, was hugely successful in his first stint as Wales coach, from 2007-2019.
He guided the Dragons to three Grand Slams and two World Cup semi-finals and coached the Lions on three tours.
But his return in December 2022 — on a contract due to run until after the 2027 World Cup — proved disastrous.
He took them to the World Cup quarter-finals in 2023 but defeat by Argentina sparked the current losing run.
The Kiwi said: “Now is the right time for a change.”
Easterby is filling in while Andy Farrell is on Lions duty.
Ex-Leinster coach Michael Cheika and Glasgow’s Franco Smith are other candidates for the role — but Easterby is the man Wales want.
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