WRU should already be planning for life after Gatland as search for successor facing questions

Truthfully, Ronan O'Gara was never likely to be the next Wales coach.

He might have been one of the favourites with the bookies, but no one was really that surprised when he dismissed the notion of replacing Warren Gatland.

You might have expected him to lean on the safer answer available to him - that there's still a man in the job and there's no point speculating at this stage - but you've got to credit his honesty in ruling out taking a job on Westgate Street.

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Maybe the financial benefits argued by his former Lions team-mate Mike Phillips could persuade him otherwise later down the line, but either way, the former Ireland fly-half's comments only serve to highlight an issue with Welsh rugby's coaching succession plan.

It's feeling increasingly likely that Gatland will remain in post when the post-autumn review is handed to the Welsh Rugby Union board next week. But how long does that realistically grant Gatland?

His future, for much of 2024, has been on the table and it's very hard to escape that discourse once it's out in the open. With 12 Test defeats in a row, there's no guarantee that Gatland's position won't again be scrutinised if the Six Nations goes awry.

None of this will be news to the man himself, who will know the realities of Test rugby only too well. Whether it be a matter of weeks, months, or even two years when his current contract ends after the 2027 World Cup in Australia, odds are that Wales will need a Gatland replacement.

O'Gara's admission of ambition suggests that those with a strong CV might look down upon the Wales job, while other contenders - like Steve Tandy and Brad Mooar - appear off-limits right now.

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Scotland have played down the chances of former Ospreys coach Tandy going anywhere, while ex-Scarlets boss Mooar has recently linked up with his former club Crusaders in New Zealand again.

It all serves to highlights the lack of a succession plan, which almost certainly will have played some part in Welsh rugby bosses' thought process over the last few weeks.

When Gatland left the first time, with Wales fresh of a World Cup semi-final and a brief spell at number one in the world rankings, the job wasn't exactly flush with swathes of candidates either.

At the time, Scarlets coach Wayne Pivac and Glasgow counterpart Dave Rennie were the front-runners for the job - with the former eventually getting the nod after leading the west Walians to a Pro12 title and the latter stages of the Champions Cup.

The suggestion at the time was that 10 candidates were interviewed. Right now, you'd probably struggle to draw up a list of a similar length.

In terms of Test coaching experience, Michael Cheika is perhaps the name that crops up most - but there's no guarantee that the Leicester Tigers coach, who has taken charge of Australia and Argentina, would want the job. He's got a one-year deal at Welford Road, but it's understood there's an option for a second should he want it.

Franco Smith is another name that has been mentioned in dispatches, but his focus seems to be solely on URC champions Glasgow and cracking Europe with them. Shaun Edwards' name will always be mentioned, given his impact in his first spell, while Ospreys fans enamoured with what Toby Booth has achieved during his time in Swansea understandably think he could do a job.

Much like the search for Gatland's replacement the first time around, there's not a bunch of Welsh coaches knocking down the door.

Granted, it's perhaps slightly better than six years ago, when all four professional clubs had head coaches from anywhere other than Wales.

You've now got Dwayne Peel with the Scarlets, while Dai Flanagan, until recently, was with the Dragons. Next season, Mark Jones will step up to replace Booth at the Ospreys, with Justin Tipuric hanging up the blue scrum-cap to go into coaching. Few Welshmen can boast as varied a coaching CV as the mid Walian.

Cardiff also have some promising young coaches working alongside Matt Sherratt - including one who has already coached with Wales, Gethin Jenkins.

The former Wales prop is at least bucking the recent trend of not being lost to Welsh rugby once the national team was done with his services, with the Arms Park now benefitting from Jenkins.

The same can't be said for Stephen Jones, with the former Wales fly-half and attack coach now working as an assistant with Super Rugby Pacific outfit Moana Pasifika. Jones was the target of a fair bit of criticism during his time coaching Wales alongside Pivac, but it would be a shame if his rugby intellect was lost to this country forever.

There's also his namesake, Adam, at Harlequins. The former Wales tighthead has consistently earned rave reviews for his coaching and seems destined to take charge of Wales' pack at some point in the future.

Speaking of Quins, head coach Danny Wilson - along with his former Cardiff assistants Sherratt and Richard Hodges - have been occasionally mentioned in conversations as a left-field Wales coaching ticket. It's something to think about, given how each of their coaching stock only rises.

And then, in Gatland's own coaching staff, Rob Howley has experience with leading Wales, while Jonathan Humphreys was another one favoured by the bookies.

Of course, while stressing there's no actual vacancy too, there's no guarantee any of these names would be the WRU's pick. But, at a time when Wales' succession plan is hard to decipher, they are all worth keeping an eye on.

Remember, although it didn't work out for Pivac in the end, the WRU freely admitted that - when the search process for Gatland's replacement began in 2016 - the-then Scarlets coach wouldn't have been the standout candidate.

Things can change quickly. Unlike 2016, Gatland hasn't, as far as we know, intimated that he'll be leaving his role at the end of his contract. With results as they are, he might not have that luxury, of course.

That was, again as he'll know, the danger of coming back a second time around. Ultimately, the WRU didn't get replacing Gatland right the first time around. Though they don't want to admit it, they'll have another crack at it one way or another in the not-too-distant future.

With his future now up for debate, the Union would be daft not to at least be considering what comes next.

Earlier in the year, the WRU's top brass were asked who would be the next Wales coach after Gatland. Understandably, they didn't answer with a name while Gatland is still in post.

But, now more than ever, you'd hope the search has at least begun in some shape or form.