'People higher up than myself make the decisions you are alluding to'
Wayne Pivac believes that Wales must “stay strong” and show belief after their Guinness Six Nations campaign ended in shambolic fashion.
A year on from winning the title, Wales collapsed at home to wooden spoonists Italy.
It was their first loss in Cardiff to the Azzurri, who had not won a Six Nations game in their previous 36 attempts across a demoralising seven-year period.
Although head coach Pivac has credit in the bank following last season’s title triumph, he has now seen Wales lose 15 of 27 Tests since he succeeded Warren Gatland following the 2019 World Cup.
Eighteen months before rugby union’s next global spectacular, Pivac finds himself addressing a second fifth-placed finish from his three Six Nations campaigns.
What should have been a day of celebration in the Cardiff sunshine for captain Dan Biggar and lock Alun Wyn Jones, who won their 100th and 150th Wales caps, respectively, imploded spectacularly as Italy claimed a stunning 22-21 victory.
Biggar said immediately after the game that it had been “probably the last chance for a lot of players,” and life is not about to get any easier, with Wales’ next three Tests being away from home against world champions South Africa in July.
“It is a backward step – there is no doubt about that, and there is no hiding from that,” Pivac said.
“It is fine margins, but we have to stay strong and believe in what we are doing. This group does that, and we believe in the players that we have.
“We will review the whole competition, look at the positives and negatives and make sure we build from this campaign. We have to, because if we don’t, it has been a waste of time.”
Pivac’s future will inevitably be debated on Welsh rugby’s intense public platform, and he added: “They are entitled to their view.
“There are people in positions higher up than myself that make the decisions you are alluding to. Look, I am not bothered by that.
“There is always emotion, and we wouldn’t be playing a game of rugby if there wasn’t a lot of emotion involved.
“You have to take a big, deep breath, count to 10, sleep on it, let those emotions subside and in the cold light of day reflect and look at the performance, break it down piece by piece.
“We didn’t play to our potential, we believe, so we have to find out why that was.”
Although the likes of Alun Wyn Jones, Josh Navidi and Taulupe Faletau returned from injuries at various stages of the Six Nations, Pivac did not have their fellow British and Irish Lions George North, Leigh Halfpenny, Ken Owens and Justin Tipuric for the entire tournament.
And while those absences must be viewed as a mitigating factor, the reality is that Wales lost four games out of five, scored just eight tries and performed only in patches.
“If people look at the squad we had in the Six Nations last year and what was missing, there are a few to come back,” Pivac said.
“We believe we have the nucleus of a group now which is building good depth, we add to that with a few boys coming back and we feel we are in a strong position.
“We’ve had a good look at a number of players over the last couple of seasons. What we would like now is to have a period of time where we don’t have too many major injuries.
“It is probably the lowest point in most of the players’ careers in terms of pulling on the Welsh jersey and the pride they have in doing that.
“A game at home against Italy, losing that was certainly not in the script, so it is very, very disappointing.”
Comments on RugbyPass
An on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
24 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
24 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
24 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
24 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
11 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
11 Go to commentsAI is only as good as the information put in, the nuances of the sport, what you see out the corner of the eye, how you sum up in a split second the situation, yes the AI is a tool but will not help win games, more likely contribute to a loss, Rugby Players are not robots, all AI can do if offer a solution not the solution. AI will effect many sports, help train better golfers etc.
45 Go to comments