Wales Have Made Their Decision About Warren Gatland's Future

Greene King and settle in for the 2025 Six Nations!

His side were guilty of 15 handling errors—compared to Italy’s four—and handed the hosts eight penalty kicks. The most damning moment came when Wales inexplicably fumbled over the Italian tryline twice in the opening 40.

Gatland insists these errors are 'easily fixed', but results suggest otherwise. Injuries haven’t helped either—Liam Williams and Dafydd Jenkins were ruled out on the eve of the match—but even with a depleted squad, the selection calls have caused debate.

Wyn Jones, Dillon Lewis, and Tomas Francis—all vastly experienced props—were left at home. So too were Gareth Anscombe, Jarrod Evans, Max Llewellyn, and Rio Dyer. At a time when Wales desperately need stability, the chopping and changing has only added to the turmoil.

The Stadio Olimpico had never been a losing venue for Wales, yet history was rewritten in Rome. If there was ever a moment for the Welsh Rugby Union to take action, this might have been it. The Triple Crown remains a mathematical possibility, but right now, avoiding the Wooden Spoon is the real battle.

There’s no sign that Gatland will walk away. He never has before, and his second spell in charge was supposed to restore Wales’ status as a rugby powerhouse. Instead, they’re falling to new lows.

RUCK understands that the WRU has already spoken to Gatland, but no rash decisions will be made. As it stands, he is expected to remain in charge until the end of the 2025 Six Nations.

But unless something changes—and fast—his days at the helm could be numbered.

Rugby Pass 5/10: "By Antoine Dupont’s insuperable standards, this was not vintage. Controlled the game with both feet and mixed his kicking to keep Marcus Smith guessing. But he had a few sloppy passes in him, including a hospital pass to Alexandre Roumat. Looked to be in for a certain try soon after, but spilt a pass with the try line beckoning. Had the ball ripped from his clutches by Tom Curry just metres from England’s line early in the second 40. Not too bad by a normal player’s standards, but for Dupont, this was quite error-strewn. There were, of course, still moments of pure genius."

Mail Online 6/10: "He's human after all. Not immune to French tension and far from imperious best but arcing run set up one try and long passes helped create two others."

RUCK 3/10: "After hitting a milestone last timeout against France, Adams probably was looking for a much better performance than last week in Paris. He did have two opportunities from kicks in behind but, again, didn’t see much of the ball. The 29-year-old was also awarded a yellow card on 58 minutes for making contact with Paolo Garbisi’s head, perhaps he can count himself lucky that it wasn’t a red."

Planet Rugby 4/10: "Looked pretty threatening throughout, but just blew two huge opportunities that could have swung the game back to Wales, and you think he would have nabbed these a few years ago. Lucky to escape a red card too for his challenge on Paolo Garbisi."

Wales Online 4/10: "Butchered two try-scoring opportunity by spilling the ball forward with the line at his mercy, albeit in difficult conditions. Received a yellow card for a cynical high shot on Paolo Garbisi."

RUCK 5/10: "Though Smith is an excellent ball player, there’s still some room for improvement of knowing when to kick, or not to kick. Thanks to France errors, it's lucky they didn’t capitalise on all of the errors. His best aspect was watching the ball, and taking advantage when it was on the ground. But why does he find the need to kick the ball at almost every time, especially when the momentum is towards England. Also, watching in front of him – so he doesn’t kick the ball directly into the French legs. He also needs to have some confidence in taking the ball into tackles, don’t pass the ball when there’s no solid pass on. His confidence improved as the game went on, but it was still not the best performance from the superstar rugby player."

Evening Standard 5/10: "Struggled defensively and was lucky not to be at fault for a try when Bielle-Biarrey ripped the ball off him. Kicking off the tee was poor, too."

Express 5/10: "Would've been disappointed by his performance, even if he was playing slightly out of position. Missed the conversion for Freeman's try and was once again wide of the mark for a penalty kick a few minutes later. Was taken off kicking duty after Baxter's try."

Planet Rugby 4//10: "he reactions will be mixed on his performance ranging from dreadful to excellent but the ploy to push him to full-back was proven to be right. He covered the back-field well and kept England in the kicking duel while adding value on attack too. England have regularly deployed the dual playmaker – notably with George Ford and Owen Farrell – and today showed it can work. There were errors but that is to be expected. His kicking woes made things difficult."

Planet Rugby 3/10: "Put under some serious pressure in the scrum by the Italian pack, and came up with a few penalties as a result. Again, he’s not the long-term solution at tighthead."

Wales Online 4/10: "In Paris, the Scarlets tighthead was as solid as a rock but he conceded four scrum penalties in Rome and was replaced after 44 minutes. An afternoon to forget."

RUCK 3/10: "The Italian pack was strong, and after last week’s decent showing at scrum time, it must be said that it wasn’t the best of afternoon's for the front row. At times they were physically outmatched, with Thomas giving away a number of penalties."

Planet Rugby 4/10: " Steady around the pitch, as you’d expect, but the lineout misfired again during his stint as Italy got some decent change in this department. Couldn’t help his props much either"

Wales Online 4/10: "The lineout is a collective effort but Wales struggled to win much clean ball early on and it improved once Elliot Dee entered the fray. Offered himself as a carrier and does have potential but he remains a work in progress at this level."

RUCK 3/10: "He wasn't firing his arrows at the lineout, which ultimately let the 23-year-old down as the hosts used those errors as a catalyst to their attacking game. However, in attack and defence, he was solid."

Evening Standard 5/10: "A bit loose in the lineout, with England losing three of their six ones when he was on. "

Express 6/10: "Disappointing with his line-outs and Steve Borthwick made the right call to take him out of the game"

RUCK 5/10: "it wasn’t a fantastic game for hooker. His effort was there for sure, but a few handling errors led to silly penalties given to France which they took with gratitude."