Warren Gatland has been relieved of his duties as Wales head coach just two rounds into the 2025 Six Nations.

The question now turns to who will take charge of the team for their next match in two weekends time against reigning champions Ireland at the Principality Stadium.

With the situation unclear at time of writing, there are any number of candidates to take over the role while the search for a new permanent replacement for Gatland.

Let’s take a look at the runners and riders:

Rob Howley

The obvious choice is Gatland’s right hand man, Rob Howley. While Howley’s role as attack coach has come under some scrutiny over the last few weeks, the former Wales scrumhalf knows the squad and would be able to slot into the role immediately and without much need for time to bed in.

Just like with Gatland, it is easy to forget that Howley coached Wales to four Six Nations titles prior to returning to his role in 2024.

In fact, the last time Howley was interim was when Gatland was coach of the British and Lions in 2013 and 2017, winning the tournament in the former year.

Howley seems the most realistic option.

Adam Jones

The Harlequins scrum coach has given the Welsh pack a much needed boost in recent weeks as he joined Gatland’s coaching set up on a part-time basis at the start of this year’s Six Nations.

He is clearly very popular in the camp and his infectious energy would potentially give the squad the lift they sorely need.

Jones does not have any experience as a head coach in his career, but with the rest of Gatland’s staff’s future up in the air, ‘Bomb’ may be needed to fill the void for the next few weeks.

Toby Booth

If there is one coach who has earnt a large majority of the squad’s respect, it is Toby Booth.

Booth has never coached at international level but has come across many of the Wales squad during his five years at Ospreys.

While he left Ospreys prematurely, that does mean Booth is available to take over straight away. Booth is a strong man manager and always got the best out of the Ospreys pack.

One of the regional coaches

This would be the trickiest to negotiate, but one of Matt Sherratt, Mark Jones, or Dwayne Peel filling the role on a part-time basis would potentially help Wales for the rest of the tournament.

It would no doubt frustrate fans of the regions, but the chance to coach Wales would potentially be too good an opportunity to turn down.

Sherratt and Jones have experience of coaching at an international level before, while Peel as a player knows exactly what it takes to win matches in the red of Wales.

Each would have a deep knowledge of the players in the squad and would be able to deliver their ideas quickly and simply in order to lift the performances of the side.

Dai Young

The most left field of the options, but former Cardiff Rugby head coach Dai Young would be a good option to take over.

Young’s current job is as a head of rugby at Cardiff and Vale College and it is unclear that he would be able to join the set up immediately.

Young is an experienced coach, having had a good stint at Cardiff recently as well as nine years at Wasps. He has a reputation as a hard taskmaster, something that may be needed in this Wales camp that is clearly low on confidence.

Whoever the coach is, they have a difficult job on their hands to help Wales potentially avoid a second successive Wooden Spoon. With Gatland gone, Wales can now plan for a future that looks uncertain.

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