The IRFU has confirmed the departure of women's head coach Greg McWilliams after less than 18 months in charge.
McWilliams departs after overseeing Ireland's disastrous TikTok Women's Six Nations campaign, which saw them lose all five games and pick up a first wooden spoon since 2004.
It was reported on Monday that the former USA men's assistant coach would be leaving his position, which has now been confirmed by the IRFU.
"The Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) can today confirm that Greg McWilliams has left his role as Head Coach of the Ireland Women's XV by mutual consent and with immediate effect," a statement from the IRFU reads.
Senior coach John McKee will oversee the management team until a long-term replacement is found, while assistants Niamh Briggs and Denis Fogarty also remain in place.
"The IRFU would like to thank Greg for his efforts over the course of the last 18 months and wish him and his family well for the future. The IRFU will now begin the process of replacing him."
McWilliams took over as head coach in January 2022, replacing former boss Adam Griggs, with Ireland winning two games in his first Six Nations campaign, before squaring their Test series with Japan 1-1 last summer.
However, Ireland were comprehensively beaten in all five games of the 2023 Six Nations championship, with their sixth-place finish leaving them in Tier 3 for the inaugural WXV competition later this year.
The 44-year-old was in his second spell coaching the Irish women's team, having served as an assistant to Philip Doyle when Ireland won the Grand Slam in 2013.
Prior to being appointed head coach in late 2021, McWilliams had spent time as an assistant coach of the USA men's team, while he was also head coach of Rugby United New York in Major League Rugby.
Speaking on the RTÉ Rugby podcast on Wednesday, Bernard Jackman said he believed the sacking of McWilliams would be "harsh", given how inexperienced his squad was in comparison to their other Six Nations opponents.
In Ireland's final game of the championship against Scotland, more than half of the starting XV had fewer than 10 caps.
"I think it's pretty harsh on him," Jackman said.
"If you look, he did go down the inexperienced route, trying to blood new players, trying to find new talent, and if you go down that route and are as radical as he was, you probably do need an understanding from above that there will be pain in that."
And the former Grenoble and Dragons coach says the gap between Ireland and their Six Nations opponents will make it tough for the IRFU to sell the job to potential replacements.
"It's not a very attractive role to be honest, given all the toxicity that's around it.
"Obviously then, you look at results and performances, our worst Six Nations in 20-odd years in terms of results.
"The only thing I would say, is that by the nature of them qualifying for WXV [third tier] the fixtures they would have in October or November would be very favourable. You could start off on a bit of a winning streak, and then next year's Six Nations you play Italy, Wales and Scotland at home.
"In theory, you might get a bit of a better start, but it's still not attractive position. It will be really interesting how they go about trying to recruit."
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