Introducing the Cardiff Rugby head coach who’s taking charge of the Wales men’s national team for the remainder of the Six Nations
Matt Sherratt became headline news on Tuesday when he was announced as the head coach for the Wales men’s national team for the remainder of the Six Nations 2025.
After the Welsh Rugby Union ended Warren Gatland’s second stint in charge “by mutual agreement”, they’ve turned to Cardiff Rugby’s head coach in an effort to arrest a record-breaking run of 14 consecutive defeats.
Watch the videoSherratt will manage the side in games against Ireland, Scotland and England, so a Triple Crown is technically still on the cards – though the Welsh public will probably be satisfied with an upturn in performance on the field. The WRU is aiming to have a new permanent coach in place for Wales’ summer tour to Japan.
Read more: Wales 2025 Six Nations squad
As Matt Sherratt prepares to take charge of his first Wales Six Nations fixture on Saturday 22 February, here’s 10 things you should know about Wales’ new interim coach.
10 things you should know about Matt Sherratt
1. Sherratt was born in Gloucester, near Gloucester Rugby’s Kingsholm home.
2. He was on Gloucester Rugby’s books but never played the game at the top level. He was working as a primary school teacher when he got a job as a development officer for the Rugby Football Union.
3. Since then he’s worked in the Worcester Warriors academy, and been a backs/attack coach for Bristol Bears, Cardiff and Ospreys. He also had a brief stint as co-head coach at Ospreys, alongside Carl Hogg.
4. Sherratt was appointed Cardiff Rugby head coach for the 2023/24 season. His side currently sit fifth in the United Rugby Championship table, having finished 12th at the end of his first year in charge.
5. He won’t be abandoning Cardiff for the national team. Sherratt will be in charge for the side’s URC trip to Connacht at the weekend, before taking his first Wales training session on Monday.
Matt Sherratt has some prior experience coaching with the Welsh national team (Stu Forster/Getty Images)
6. Having signed a long-term contract with Cardiff, Sherratt’s not planning on applying for the Wales job full-time. He’ll oversee the national team up until the end of the Six Nations, and says, “[The job is] not something that I’ll be putting my name forward for.”
7. Sherratt (who has a Welsh mother) is Wales’ first English head coach but he won’t be the first English-born man to run the national side. Tony Gray – who won a couple of caps for Wales in the ’60s and managed the national side from 1985-1988 – was born in Stoke-on-Trent.
8. Sherratt has prior international coaching experience. He was an assistant coach on Wales’ 2017 tour to the Pacific Islands. Robin McBryde took charge of the team while Warren Gatland was away on British & Irish Lions duty.
9. He wants rugby to be entertaining.“I do believe that we have a duty so that people enjoy watching rugby,” he said at the press conference announcing his appointment. “I’m pretty set on how to play and it’s not going to be anything different to the style we play at Cardiff. That is what I genuinely believe in – it’s what I am passionate about.
“I’m at the stage of my career when it’s important to me that people want to come and enjoy watching a team play.”
10. He’s planning on learning the Welsh national anthem ahead of the Ireland game. “I’ll be on YouTube tomorrow,” he joked at his unveiling.
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