John Mulvihill has left Cardiff with immediate effect - reports

Cardiff Blues head coach John Mulvihill has reportedly left the struggling Welsh region with immediate effect. No official confirmation has yet to emerge from the club but it is understood that the Australian's three-year deal has ended six months before its expiry date.

The Blues have been off the pace in this season's Guinness PRO14, losing five of their last seven league games and six of their ten matches overall in that tournament.

That form has left Cardiff drifting in fourth place in Conference B with no chance of closing the gap to leaders Munster ahead of the revised March final which will precede the newly arranged Rainbow Cup which will see the Welsh, Irish, Scottish and Italian sides in action against the four South African Super Rugby teams.

In a report on WalesOnline, it is reported that Mulvihill has stepped aside following the New Year's Day derby loss to Ospreys and will be replaced on an interim basis by assistant Richard Hodges for this weekend's derby against the Scarlets.

Although described as the perfect fit on his arrival by CEO Richard Holland, the week's outcome for Mulvihill at Cardiff is no major surprise as the club have traditionally been a mid-table side and the Australian has been unable to break this pattern, the Blues losing more games than they won in his 2018/19 and 2019/20 campaigns (10/21 and 7/15).

Mulvihill was previously an assistant at Western Force before being recruited by Cardiff from the Japanese Top League following the departure of Danny Wilson to Scotland in 2018.

Wilson signed off with eleven wins in 21 league outings, a season that culminated in European Challenge Cup final success in Bilbao against Gloucester. Having initially worked with Gregor Townsend's Scotland set-up, Wilson is now the head coach at Glasgow.