WRU has been lenient over Gatland - Shanklin

Warren Gatland (right) has a different backroom staff in his second stint as head coach

Autumn series: Wales v Australia

Venue: Principality Stadium, Cardiff Date: Sunday, 17 November Kick off: 16:10 GMT

Coverage: Live on S4C, BBC Radio Wales, Radio Cymru, live text and commentary on the BBC Sport website and app

Tom Shanklin says the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) must look for a new head coach to replace Warren Gatland if Wales suffer defeats against Australia and South Africa.

Last weekend's 24-19 loss against Fiji was a 10th successive Test defeat, equalling Wales' losing streak set under Steve Hansen in 2002 and 2003.

Wales will be bidding to avoid a record 11th loss against the Wallabies on Sunday with world champions Springboks arriving in Cardiff six days later.

"I don't think other countries would be as lenient," former Wales centre Shanklin told the Scrum V Warm-up programme.

"With losing 10 international games on the bounce most coaches would be let go."

Gatland returned for a second stint as Wales head coach in December 2022 and has only six wins in 22 games, with no victory since October 2023 in the World Cup against Georgia.

This is compared to Gatland's first 12-year spell where Wales won three Grand Slams, four Six Nations and made two World Cup semi-finals.

"The issue with Warren is the success he has had prior to that," said Shanklin.

"He has come in for his second stint. When he came in 2008 and what he and the squad achieved until 2019 was huge, with the Grand Slams and the Championships, so he has credit in the bank.

"They [WRU] are being quite lenient, but these next two games are massive for him and the coaching team.

"If we don't get any results in those, I don't think there is another option apart from to look for a new coach."

'WRU bosses need to be looked at'

Former Wales captain Alun Wyn Jones believes the WRU hierarchy need to be take responsibility for failings.

"I want to see some accountability with the people that are making the decisions on the total game, not just on the field," said Jones, who played 158 times for Wales and 12 Tests for the British and Irish Lions.

"The coaches are taking a lot of stick at the moment, but they and the players are not going out there to lose.

"Having been involved through quite a few turbulent times with things like wins, losses, strikes and mergers and all the things we have tried to correct it, why do we find ourselves with these perennial problems that keeping on in a cycle?

"We have had four or five different chief executives. We talk about leniency on the pitch, but has the leniency gone too far on the higher-ups?

"I am not just talking on the chief executive, who appointed the chief executive?"

'Welsh rugby needs a plan'

Welsh Rugby Union bosses include executive director of rugby Nigel Walker (left), chief executive Abi Tierney (centre) and chair Richard Collier Keywood (right)

WRU chief executive Abi Tierney was appointed permanently in January 2024 by chairman Richard Collier-Keywood and stated she would produce a new strategy in the first half of the year.

A preliminary document was published in June with the promise of the overall document later in the year, but that has still not been published.

"A lot of things are reactive rather than proactive," Jones told Scrum V The Warm Up programme.

"We hear things about a report that should be published and I think we are still waiting.

"You look at the success Wales had since 2005, but did we take it for granted and think of the next move, rather than the one in front?

"We talk about succession of players and coaches, but where is the succession with governance, all that sort of stuff that are obviously now impacting the game?"

Jones says a long-term strategy has to be agreed.

"There are a lot of people out there who want to know what the plan is and we need the communication," said Jones.

"If you can see it, everyone can get behind it, irrelevant of what is happening on the pitch.

"Rugby needs players and supporters, we are all stakeholders, if we are not communicated to, people do not know what's going on.

"We have had too many of these situations now, we just need some sort of plan."