Warren Gatland favourite to replace Wayne Pivac as Wales coach nears exit

Wales will have to move fast to secure a sensational return for Warren Gatland, with Wayne Pivac expected to be sacked as head coach within the next 48 hours.

The WRU is holding talks over Pivac’s position, but the 60-year-old will almost certainly be dismissed following a dismal run of results.

After Saturday’s astonishing 39-34 defeat to Australia – in which the home side imploded by conceding 26 unanswered points in the last 19 minutes – it is widely expected that Pivac will be relieved of his duties, despite the Rugby World Cup starting in just 10 months.

Gatland is the favourite to take over from Pivac, with Scott Robertson and Ronan O’Gara also linked with the job. Wales have little time to waste given Gatland is due to return to Waikato this week to begin pre season training with the Chiefs. The British and Irish Lions’ coach has been in the UK for the last month working for Amazon TV on the autumn series.

While it does appear inevitable that Wales will sack a head coach for the first time in 15 years, there are complications both with Pivac and his successor to be solved.

Pivac – who, with just three wins in 12 Tests in 2022, including home losses to Italy and Georgia – was due to fly out to France on Sunday for a World Cup recce featuring visits to their base for their Webb Ellis challenge, as well as the venues and training facilities.

In his absence the Welsh Rugby Union will hold a board meeting on Tuesday where the issue is bound to be raised. However, that is being convened primarily to confirm former Wales and Lions great Ieuan Evans as WRU chairman.

It would be ironic if one of the first notable events under Evans’s tenure was the firing of a head coach as he was a part of the Wales squad in 1998, the year when Kevin Bowring became the one and only head coach thus far to be dismissed without leading the country in a World Cup.

Reports in Wales suggest that a special WRU sub-committee met last week to discuss replacements for Pivac, with Gatland considered the best candidate due not only to his remarkable achievements with the national team from 2007-2019 – three Grand Slams and two World Cup semi-finals – but also because he knows the ropes so well and could hit the training ground running.

However, there are concerns cited by sources within the WRU, that it could  miss out on securing a sensational return for the 59–year-old if it procrastinates and awaits the findings of the traditional review into the autumn series that began with a shellacking from the All Blacks.

That could take up to two weeks to complete, with the WRU understandably keen to grill Pivac about what has gone wrong since winning the Six Nations last year. But Gatland may not be available by the time the report hits the desk as he is due to report back to the Chiefs with preseason starting on Friday.

Gatland has one year left on his contract with the New Zealand Rugby Union and is one of the names mentioned to take over the national reins from Ian Foster when the French feature piece concludes next October.

There is also the possibility that England could come calling if the Rugby Football Union believes Eddie Jones has reached the end of the road. Then there is the finance the WRU would require.

Pivac is on £500,000 a year and the last 12 months of his contract would obviously need paying up. The New Zealand Rugby Union may also demand compensation for ripping up Gatland's deal.