Gatland managed just one win in the 2023 Six Nations, but the former British and Irish Lions coach did galvanise the Wales squad to reach the quarter-finals of the 2023 World Cup.
Wales have not won a Test match since beating Georgia in the pool stages of that tournament, with defeat to Argentina in the last eight marking the start of their miserable run.
In 2024, they finished bottom of the Six Nations for the first time in 21 years and lost 11 games overall, the first time Wales had not managed an international win in a calendar year since 1937.
Gatland had been coming under increasing pressure and scrutiny amid a wider debate about the structures underpinning the national team.
After the record home defeat by Australia in November 2024, former Wales captain Gwyn Jones said he thought Gatland had already “checked out”.
There was also criticism from some of his former players like Mike Phillips, Tom Shanklin, Dan Biggar and Jamie Roberts, who is currently a Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) board member.
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