We had all been waiting with bated breath for the outcome of this week's Welsh Rugby Union board meeting but instead Warren Gatland jumped the gun and offered his resignation. That was honourable of him but in truth Gatland has been the architect of his own downfall.
We wanted to see evidence of improvement but instead we've gone backwards. Despite Welsh rugby's many problems, things didn't need to be this bad and we don't need to go through the pain of losing all the time.
Since the moment Gatland was reappointed so many problems have been unnecessarily created. These include not selecting players on form, selecting players out of their regular positions, not knowing what his best team is and having no noticeable gameplan.
READ MORE: Warren Gatland already lined up for new job following Wales exit
READ MORE: Warren Gatland's daughter calls out ex-Wales players in emotional post
There has been no evidence for quite some time that demonstrates we have been trying to break down defences. We have not improved our kick-chase game nor have we improved our distribution from the breakdown, while we've also had serious issues at the set-piece.
These are the reasons why we have lost 14 consecutive games and why it will become 17 by the end of this Six Nations. It has been claimed by a number of sources that the Italy game was our worst ever performance.
In our history there have been some pretty dire performances and results, such as South Africa in 1998 by 96-13; Fiji at the 2007 RWC by 38-34 after which Gareth Jenkins was sacked; losses at home to Romania and Georgia and losing to Italy in three of the last four fixtures, and of course the 43-0 hammering by France last week.
I’m sure you can make your own minds up which one deserves the title. How about when we lost 38-31 at the 1991 RWC at home to Western Samoa? As Max Boyce referred to it: “It’s a good job we weren’t playing the whole of Samoa.” There is a joke doing the rounds since Saturday’s loss to Italy that at least we are still in with a chance of winning the Triple Crown.
I remember the time when England were the opposition, at their training session the coach told the team to stand in their usual positions, whereupon the whole team lined up behind the goal posts.
I was brought up on 1970s rugby club humour. So I haven’t got a problem with a bit of ironic banter, on the basis that if you didn’t laugh you would cry.
Over the course of a horrible run of defeats all the coaches have been criticised constantly and justifiably, for one reason or another. Rob Howley was brought in but he has been attack coach for two games and we haven't seen any improvement.
It was my opinion that at the end of the autumn internationals they should all have been removed, because they have all become associated with failure. But halfway through the Six Nations is not the ideal time to change a national coach - the WRU should have sacked Gatland a long time ago.
Cast your mind back to our loss to Fiji that caused us to go home before the quarter-final stage of the 2007 Rugby World Cup.
The decision to sack Jenkins was made quickly and Roger Lewis broke the news to him the following morning in the car park of the team’s hotel. That was decisive.
No review should have been needed after the autumn internationals. You could have gone into any pub or club in Wales and they would have made the decision themselves.
The new coach should be in place by the Japan tour.
At least he will have a full complement of players to work with because, unfortunately, I can’t see many players, if any, who will be selected for the British & Irish Lions tour to Australia.
Whoever will ultimately be appointed to the role will have more than just an international rugby team to coach. He will also be carrying the weight of a nation on his shoulders.
I hope he will have an affinity for what makes Welsh rugby tick. It will be time to recover some respect and to show that we are no longer a laughing stock.
Now it's over to Matt Sherratt, who has the unenviable task of turning Wales around in such a short space of time. I hope he is given the privilege of appointing a different set of coaches on secondment in the same way that Adam Jones has been.
At least we can get some coaches on board with fresh ideas. It will also be interesting to see what changes he intends to make to his squad of players.
