Why Wales coach Matt Sherratt is called Jockey and the different job he had before rugby
Wales' new interim head coach Matt Sherratt has revealed why he is known across the game as 'Jockey'.
All eyes will be on the Cardiff Rugby boss on Saturday as he takes charge of his first Six Nations match since agreeing to temporarily take the reins from the departed Warren Gatland for the final three games of the tournament, with Ireland at the Principality Stadium up first.
For those who don't follow Welsh regional rugby, Sherratt will likely be somewhat of an unknown and in the days that have followed his appointment last week, the origin of his nickname has puzzled pundits, particularly those outside of Wales.
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Exactly why he is known as Jockey left Ugo Monye and Chris Ashton scratching their heads on the BBC's Rugby Union Weekly podcast, before the latter suggested that it might be to do with the coach's height. Now, the man himself has revealed how he came to earn that moniker, with Ashton along the right lines after all.
"I need to think of a better story for why it's Jockey," the Gloucester-born coach explained on Friday's episode of the podcast. "But I'll be honest with you, I know I look pretty big on the screen but I'm not the tallest. I'm two inches taller than Ashy, I'm 5ft 6in.
"My dad was blessed in the same regard, so his nickname was Jockey. I played for a rugby team that he was involved in and it kind of just spread through the family. I've got a 12-year-old boy, Henry, and he's dodged it at the moment!"
With Wales on a dismal run of 14 successive Test match defeats and Ireland chasing a third straight Six Nations title, expectations for this weekend are low, but Sherratt equally has nothing to lose, with Welsh fans just wanting to see an improved performance after a series of hugely underwhelming displays.
While he has torn up Gatland's team selection and made eight changes ahead of welcoming Ireland, the man himself has admitted he won't be able to work miracles over the course of three training sessions and is instead looking to achieve a "mindset shift" amongst a squad bereft of confidence.
Players and coaches past and present who have worked with Sherratt hold him in high regard and believe he is exactly the right person to achieve such a shift, having previously helped teams short on confidence and results to turn their fortunes around by implementing an exciting brand of attacking rugby.
"Jockey is easily the best attack coach I’ve ever worked with," said former Wales captain Ellis Jenkins, who played under him at Cardiff, this week. "His passion for the game and studious approach to attack is obvious to anyone that works with him. He’s also got an emotional intelligence and a way of creating relationships that is difficult to quantify, but which is so important in team sport."
Sherratt hasn't always worked in rugby, however, having started his working life as a primary school teacher after graduating from the University of Gloucestershire. But he moved into rugby coaching at community level with the RFU in 2005, spending a year as a development coach at England Rugby before moving to Worcester Warriors as an academy coach.
He then spent five years at the academy at Sixways, before moving on to Bristol Bears and spending a further five years at Ashton Gate as a backs coach. Sherratt then moved on to what would be his first of two stints with Cardiff, which lasted between 2016 and 2018 and saw him before a key figure at the club in his position as attack and backs coach.
It was during that first spell at Arms Park that he had his first involvement with the Wales set-up, as, with Gatland away on sabbatical in preparation for the Lions tour, he was called up to act as number two to Rob Howley on their 2017 summer tour to Samoa and Tonga.
After leaving the Welsh capital, he moved to the Ospreys as a backs coach for the 2018/19 campaign, before stepping up to the head coach role at the region on an interim basis the following season, alongside Carl Hogg. In 2020, he re-joined Worcester as a backs coach but the following year returned to Cardiff in the same role.
Following the departure of director of rugby Dai Young in 2023, Sherratt took to the hotseat at Arms Park and has remained in charge ever since, with a 12th place finish in the URC in his first season in charge being followed by an improved second campaign so far, with Cardiff currently sitting sixth in the table.
