Stephen Jones has been working in New Zealand for the last two seasons after leaving the Wales job in 2022.
Stephen Jones, left(Image: © Huw Evans Picture Agency)
Former Wales attack coach Stephen Jones is a contender to replace Matt Sherratt as Cardiff head coach.
The 47-year-old has been working in New Zealand for the past couple of seasons with Super Rugby franchise Moana Pasifika, having joined as an assistant on a two-year deal back in January 2024. That marked his first coaching job since leaving Wales’ coaching team following the return of Warren Gatland in 2022.
The Welsh Rugby Union announced on Monday that Sherratt, who had served as interim head coach for the national team in recent campaigns, would join Steve Tandy’s coaching team as attack coach with immediate effect. The news comes as a blow for Cardiff, just days before the start of their United Rugby Championship campaign.
The Blue and Blacks welcome the Lions to the Arms Park this Saturday, with forwards coach Corniel van Zyl, Gethin Jenkins (defence) Jonny Goodridge (skills) and Scott Andrews (scrum) announced as the club’s coaching team in the interim.
Players were told of Sherratt’s departure on Monday morning, after a team meeting was moved to the start of the day.
It’s understood that they were informed that van Zyl would be in charge in the immediate future, with no timeframe offered on when a new head coach would be appointed. Sign up to Inside Welsh rugby on Substack to get exclusive news stories and insight from behind the scenes in Welsh rugby.
However, Cardiff have been aware of the possibility of Sherratt taking on the Wales job for some time – with reports first emerging in April, while the WRU had been keen since July on retaining some of the coaches used on the Japan summer tour.
As such, discussions are understood to have already started about a replacement for Sherratt at the Arms Park – with former Wales fly-half Jones’ name having been mentioned.
The former Scarlets playmaker has been back in Wales recently following the end of the Super Rugby season, with his original two-year deal with Tana Umaga’s side coming to an end.
There have even been suggestions the WRU briefly looked at Jones for the attack coach job this time around – the role he served in between 2019 and 2022 – although Sherratt was seemingly always the first-choice.
The timing of Sherratt’s move to the national team is far from ideal, with fans harbouring some frustration over the fact the announcement was made just days before the start of the new season.
That follows Tandy’s other appointment, Danny Wilson, being tempted from his role as Harlequins head coach just days before their Gallagher Prem cup opener earlier this month.
With Wilson, it’s understood that any further delay would have resulted in further disruption – not just for Harlequins, but also in terms of certain contract clauses kicking in around compensation and leave notices.
Why Sherratt’s departure also came down to the wire is unclear, although back when Tandy was appointed in July, WRU director of rugby and elite performance Dave Reddin’s quotes about needing to approve all coaching hires seemed to go against the noises from within the WRU about wanting continuity from the Japan tour.
In the end, Wales have arrived at that continuity – albeit later than anyone would have expected.
Sherratt leaves Cardiff after two seasons in charge, having been thrust into his first head coach role in troubling circumstances amid financial constraints.
However, in his two campaigns at the helm, he got the club within touching distance of the URC play-offs, with his brand of exciting rugby and reliance on local talent helping to bring back fans to the Arms Park.
Having taken on the burden for Cardiff’s attack – besides the starter plays that Goodridge looked after – Cardiff will need to bring in someone to look after their attacking game moving forward.
In that sense, Jones could be a good fit – given the brand of rugby the Scarlets played during his time as an assistant to Wayne Pivac.
Pivac, who Jones followed to the national team in 2019, could also be an option for Cardiff if they were interested. The former Wales head coach was understood to have been looking at coaching opportunities in Wales prior to taking up a director of rugby job with Pakuranga in New Zealand.