Wales head coach Warren Gatland has revealed he has tendered his resignation following a disastrous Six Nations performance.
The 60-year-old hosted a disappointing tournament in which he lost all five games and was punished with a wooden spoon.
Their last defeat was a 24-21 loss to the Azzurri against Italy at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff.
poor performance
It was another disappointing performance for Wales as they found themselves trailing 24-7 with two minutes remaining.
A few late tries diminished some of the embarrassment, but they could not overshadow what was a dismal Six Nations run for the 2023 Rugby World Cup quarter-finalists.
Gatland's contract runs until the end of the 2027 World Cup and the New Zealander insists he is fully committed to the role despite tendering his resignation.
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“That's right. I made that promise. I said to Abi (WRU chief executive Abi Tierney) in the changing room, 'If you want me to resign, I'll be happy to do that.' She said, “Really, that's the last thing I want, that's what I'm really afraid of.”
“But I can promise you that we will go away and consider this carefully. We have already done some reviews and will work on the areas that need improvement.”
Gatland is looking to refresh the squad with a number of young players and the head coach insists the future is bright.
inexperienced
“We're emotionally devastated, we're hurting as players and coaches, and I know our fans are hurting,” he said.
“We're probably at a bit of rock bottom right now, but there's light at the end of the tunnel. I think we've got some great players who will become great international players over time.
“We have a lot of inexperienced players who haven't played much in regional rugby. We're putting them out there at Test level, which is a bit difficult.
“This rebuild was not as difficult as we thought it would be. We knew we had some inexperience on the team and some players we asked to step up into leadership roles. For us, that meant… It's about taking the good out of the game and showing what needs to be done.
“You can't question the effort of the players and to be fair to Italy, we didn't put a lot of pressure on them and they managed the game well.
“I'm really excited about this group of young guys who are going to learn from this experience and learn how to simplify the game and get ahead. That's going to help us.”
Read more: Italy player review: Juan Ignacio Brex avoids wooden spoon to lead memorable Cardiff win
