Wales go into the Six Nations in the midst of a historic losing run and with head coach Warren Gatland under immense pressure.

Telegraph Sport breaks down the five hurdles Gatland’s side must overcome to get back on track.

History

In the 142-year existence of the Championship, Wales have never failed to win a single game in back-to-back campaigns. Indeed, due to points difference not being introduced until 1994, they have yet to suffer successive wooden spoons. Both are up for grabs now.

Wales are on an unprecedented losing run of 12 Tests and, if they succumb in Paris in Friday night’s Six Nations opener, it will mean they have equalled their worst Championship streak of seven consecutive defeats.

As the smallest nation in the competition, Wales have consistently punched above their weight – winning 12 Grand Slams, with only England ahead on 13 – but now they appear flat out on the canvas. In a book that actually cites rugby union, Karl Marx wrote: “The tradition of all the dead generations weighs like a nightmare on the brain of the living.”

The proud Welsh record book is having to be rewritten and thus diminished with every reversal and the snowball is becoming increasingly hard to halt, never mind turn back up that hill.

Gatland has said himself in the build-up that “the Six Nations is all about momentum” and, at the moment, it is crushing that renowned red-shirted passion and spirit. Confidence is at an all-time low and after employing the old “siege mentality” trick, Gatland must somehow make the Dragonhood rise from the ashes.

Squad limitations

“Who could do better with this lot?” This is the main argument in the defence of Gatland, and although it is pilloried by many who believe that with a shift away from “Warrenball” towards a game plan that actually suits this particular batch, the logic does have merit.

This is a squad with glaring limitations, not least in experience. After he returned two years ago, he saw Alun Wyn Jones, Josh Navidi and Justin Tipuric retire and then Dan Biggar, Leigh Halfpenny, George North and Ken Owens follow suit. To make this mass exodus that much more painful, Louis Rees-Zammit, Wales’ finest young talent, was lost to American Football.

Gatland was forced into an overhaul almost overnight, calling up players barely blooded at their regions. The Welsh Rugby Union regulations have hardly helped, with players with fewer than 25 caps playing over the border or abroad ineligible for selection. Exeter centre Joe Hawkins is the standout in this apparent case of self-harm.

But Gatland has overlooked Rhys Carré, at Saracens, and Harlequin Jarrod Evans, despite problems at prop and outside-half respectively. Evans, in particular, seems a strange omission, with Ben Thomas starting at the Stade de France despite playing inside centre in the overwhelming majority of his time at Cardiff, and uncapped Dan Edwards on the bench.

The midfield is another area of concern, but Gatland bizarrely dropped Max Llewellyn, the joint second top try-scorer in the Premiership with Gloucester.

As he searches for his 23, Gatland might feel he has no other option but to chop and change and to test and rejig. He will be relieved to have some of the tried and trusted back in his ranks, with the likes of Liam Williams, Josh Adams and young Dafydd Jenkins playing against France (although talisman Taulupe Faletau was a brutal late withdrawal).

But consider that hooker Evan Lloyd has made only seven starts and that tighthead Henry Thomas has not begun an international in 11 years. Five of the XV in Paris have yet to start in a Six Nations win and four on the seven-strong bench have not tasted a Championship victory of any sort.

Gatland famously said of his 2019 Grand Slam winners: “They have forgotten how to lose.” So many of his 2025 class have yet to discover how to win.

The draw

The odd years are the easier – that has been the Welsh belief. France away is daunting, but England and Ireland at home made up for it. And Italy and Scotland? Well, Gatland in his first initial incumbency never lost to the former in the Championship (12 out of 12) and only once against the latter (11 out 12).

Of course these are early days in the 61-year-old’s second coming, but the fact he lost two out of two against Scotland and was on the wrong side of the scoreboard for the first time against Italy last year, suggests that his Tartan-Azzurri domination is over.

Having been walloped 35-7 at Murrayfield (another record) two years ago, Rome is the obvious chance of avoiding another clean sweep, but Italy have prevailed in two of their past three encounters against Wales and have no fears whatsoever.

They have not beaten the Dragons at home in 18 years, but will be more confident than at any time since their victories in 2003 and 2007. After notching up two successes in the Championship for the first time in more than a decade, everyone will beware Gonzalo Quesada’s men, but for Gatland especially their resurgence seems extremely poorly timed.

Gatland’s own past

“Never go back,” they say and Gatland is in danger of being the poster boy for this warning. At the moment, the New Zealander holds the Wales record for best winning percentage during his first tenure and the worst for his comeback. One leader, two completely contrasting reigns.

It is as if the winning Warren is goading the winless Warren, making his role more arduous than it would be anyway. It is not just France, Italy, Scotland, Ireland and England whom the coach has to face, but seemingly the glories he achieved before as well.

There can be no doubt that Gatland masked the cracks in the Welsh domestic game, somehow taking the country to top of the world rankings while the regions were in disarray. Gatland showed what was possible by making it Team Wales and for 11 years he could do no wrong.

But now that the national squad are finally living down to the example set for so long in Cardiff, Newport, Llanelli and Swansea, it has suddenly gone from “In Gats We Trust” to “In Gats We Rust”.

Regardless of all the factors against him – and even by the WRU’s shambolic standards, the last few years have been incredibly chaotic and damaging.

Jonathan Davies is just the latest legend to have turned against him and even his favourite rugby sons are questioning his future.

Sam Warburton, Dan Biggar and Jamie Roberts, who is on the WRU board, have openly discussed his removal, or at least a move upstairs, while Mike Phillips has gone further. “He deserves to be kicked out,” said the former Lions scrum-half, before referencing his salary. “He is laughing all the way to the bank.”

Perhaps most tellingly, however, has been Gatland’s own reaction. Where once he treated self-doubt like he would a slacker, he has offered to resign twice in the past year and has willingly acknowledged the WRU’s crude ultimatum of at least one win.

“I’m well aware if things don’t improve, then there’s likely to be a change from the union,” he said. The old Gatland would be shaking his head in horror.

Odds

“Write us off at your peril,” Gatland says, but William Hill says Wales have never been a bigger price for a Six Nations match.

And what makes that even more concerning for the support is that particular bookmaker has the outsiders at 12-1 to defeat France – and Paddy Power has Wales at 25-1.

If anything encapsulates the dramatic downfall since the Grand Slam of 2019 and the Championship title of 2021, it is the reflective ridicule being thrown upon them by bookmakers, whose only interest is financial.

“Wales are 18-1 with us to win in Paris and they’ve never before been anywhere nearly as big as that for an individual Six Nations match,” said Alex Apati of Ladbrokes. “This is reflected in the overall tournament as we have them as 8-11 favourites to retain the wooden spoon.”

In other words, Gatland is odds-on to lose his job.