Cardiff head coach Matt Sherratt says Wales full-back Cameron Winnett intends to use his Six Nations omission to reflect on his “stratospheric” start to his career.

Winnett was one of the notable absentees along with Gloucester pair Gareth Anscombe and Max Llewellyn, Dragons wing Rio Dyer and Scarlets back row Taine Plumtree when Warren Gatland named his 34-man squad on Monday.

The 22-year-old made his debut against Scotland in the 2024 Six Nations opener in Cardiff and was one of the most impressive Wales performers in the tournament.

After being left out against South Africa in November 2024, Winnett has been omitted from the entire squad for the latest campaign.

“I am disappointed for Cam and he was as well because he wants to play for Wales but he quickly flipped that into a positive and that is his mindset,” said Sherratt.

“Cam sees it as a chance to maybe take a breath, work on his physical conditioning and some of the little bits and pieces he needs on his technical stuff.

“The nice thing about Cam is he is very level-headed. So how he is on the pitch where he is very consistent and there is no fuss, that is what his personality is like.”

Sherratt pointed to Winnett’s workload during the past 12 months.

“Because he has been going from week to week, while he has not been injured, he has been picking up little niggles,” said Sherratt.

“I think he played 27 games last year. A year before that he would have had about a dozen games that were mixed with Cardiff RFC, a couple for us and some Wales Under-20s matches.

“So his short-term development has been quite stratospheric.

“It has been a massive straight line, up from Cardiff RFC, to a couple of regional appearances, to pretty much starting every game for Wales and playing very well.”

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