Warren Gatland is set to give WRU chief executive Roger Lewis a decision on his future plans "over the next month".
The day before he departs with 15 former Welsh rugby captains on a charity climb to the top of Mount Kilimanjaro, the Welsh coach told BBC Wales he is “weighing up” his options.
Gatland, who was one of Sir Ian McGeechan’s coaches on the 2009 British & Irish Lions tour to South Africa last year, took over the Wales job from Gareth Jenkins in the wake of the disasterous World Cup campaign in France in 2007.
He made an immediate impact by guiding Wales to their second Grand Slam in four years in 2008 and is set to lead his team into the 2011 World Cup in his native New Zealand in a year’s time.
His current contract runs through to the end of the 2011 World Cup campaign, but the WRU have tabled a four year extension that would allow him to build a team for the 2015 tournament that is being hosted by England.
“We are just talking at the moment. I have had a lot of discussion with Roger Lewis about the potential of an extension on my contract,” said Gatland.
“I’m just weighing that up. My family in New Zealand are quite keen for Dad to come home and I want to make the right decision for everyone.
“But for everyone concerned, it is only fair that I make a decision over the next month. I have loved my time here in Wales and there is a big part of me that wants to stay.
“I think that over the next four years they could develop an experienced side for the 2015 World Cup. They are only going to lose about four players – Shane Williams, Stephen Jones, Martyn Williams and maybe Lee Byrne – over those four years and they could reach 2015 with an old of players with 80 or 90 caps.”
If Gatland does decide to stay then he could be in line to join the coaching team for the next Lions tour to Australia in 2013.
