Steve Tandy is the favourite to succeed Warren Gatland as the head coach of Wales' men's team, sources have confirmed to ESPN.
The 45-year-old is currently with Scotland as their defence coach, and is under contract through to 2026.
If the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) do manage to persuade Tandy to take up the head coach role, then a compensation package will need to be agreed with the Scottish Rugby Union and Tandy is unlikely to be in place for Wales' summer tour of Japan.
The news of the WRU's interest in Tandy comes during a turbulent time in Welsh rugby. The men's national team is on a run of 17 defeats on the bounce.
Gatland left Wales after two matches in the 2025 Six Nations, and was replaced on an interim basis by Cardiff's Matt Sherratt but he was unable to snap Wales' losing streak.
The interest in Tandy comes as the WRU seeks to overhaul its rugby management structure. It's expected the WRU will first move to confirm the appointment of Dave Reddin as its new director of rugby this week before any announcement over Gatland's successor.
Tandy has emerged as the favourite -- but is yet to sign any deal -- after several other names were linked with the vacancy. Michael Cheika, Danny Wilson, Simon Easterby and Franco Smith were also names mentioned with the post, but it's Tandy who is in pole position.
Tandy knows the Welsh system well having played regional rugby, and then coached the Ospreys from 2012 to 2018. He joined Scotland in 2019 as their defence coach and was part of the British & Irish Lions backroom staff for their 2021 tour of South Africa, where he worked underneath Gatland.
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