Premiership and URC clubs troll Warren Gatland following surprise Six Nations squad announcement

Louis Chapman Coombe
A two pannell image of Max Llewellyn and Cameron Winnett

Max Llewellyn and Cameron Winnett have both been dropped from Warren Gatland's squad.

Gloucester and Cardiff have united together to troll Warren Gatland following the bizarre omissions of in-form duo Max Llewellyn and Cameron Winnett from Wales’ Six Nations squad.

Both men were involved in Wales’ squad for the November Tests, however, they have not been included in Gatland’s 34-man selection for the upcoming Six Nations, which gets underway at the Principality Stadium next month.

Gloucester and Cardiff troll Warren Gatland

Prior to the squad announcement, the duo were expected to play prominent roles in the Wales starting XV given their club form, and that prompted both their clubs to take to social media to dig at the Kiwi coach.

Gloucester were the first to do so, posting a highlight reel on the club’s X account captioned: “The #GallagherPrem’s top try scorer, Max Llewellyn. 😉”

As the post suggests, Llewellyn has been in red-hot form for the Cherry and Whites this year with seven tries in his 12 appearances so far – with all seven coming in the Premiership. Given these stats alone, his omission is a strange one, but Gatland’s response when asked why Llewellyn was axed makes it even more baffling.

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“He’s pretty unlucky,” Gatland said. “For us, there’s a lot of quality 12 around and 13 is probably the one position we haven’t got depth. He’s definitely unlucky to miss out on the squad.”

Whilst Llewellyn is considered a utility back, the majority of his games this season have come in the 13 shirt, with him only playing inside centre on three occasions.

This social media post by Gloucester inspired Cardiff to react with a similar post regarding full-back Winnett too, with the capital club posting: “Cam Winnett, the @URCOfficial top try-assist maker.”

Winnett’s omission was also a bizarre one, considering he had started in nine of Wales’ 12 Tests in 2024 and was one of their standout players in last year’s Six Nations.

Wales Six Nations squad in full

Forwards: Keiron Assiratti, James Botham, Elliot Dee, Taulupe Faletau, Dafydd Jenkins, WillGriff John, Evan Lloyd, Kemsley Mathias, Jac Morgan, Sam Parry, Tommy Reffell, Will Rowlands, Nicky Smith, Gareth Thomas, Freddie Thomas, Henry Thomas, Christ Tshiunza, Aaron Wainwright, Teddy Williams

Backs: Josh Adams, Ellis Bevan, Dan Edwards, Josh Hathaway, Eddie James, Ellis Mee, Blair Murray, Joe Roberts, Tom Rogers, Ben Thomas, Nick Tompkins, Owen Watkin, Liam Williams, Rhodri Williams, Tomos Williams

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