The measures taken to safeguard the mental health of Wayne Pivac's locked down Wales players
Wales boss Wayne Pivac has revealed the clinical resources placed at his disposal and that of his players to help keep their mental health ticking over during the coronavirus pandemic suspension of rugby. The sport has been in cold storage since the 11th-hour postponement of the March 14 Guinness Six Nations match versus Scotland in Cardiff and no one is any wiser nearly seven weeks later as to when it might return in 2020.
Background preparations are still ongoing for Wales’ July to New Zealand but Pivac – who took over from Warren Gatland following the 2019 World Cup – believes it is only a matter of time before those matches are officially postponed, meaning there could be further demand on the WRU’s mental health resources to guide everyone safety though the ongoing period of inactivity.
“WRU have an HR department who have done a lot of research, put out a lot of articles to all of us, players included, all the staff, around dealing with all sorts of things, from anxiety to sleepless nights, the whole spectrum of mental health,” explained Pivac during a media conference call from his home in Wales on Wednesday.
“Apart from that we employed at the start of my tenure a sports psychologist who is also a clinical psychiatrist, so he is working on a daily basis with our staff and our players and is available to the whole WRU staff. He is doing a lot of research, doing a lot of one-on-one stuff over the phone, video hookups, those sorts of things.
“We are giving them [the players] everything we can to get through this period. A lot of it is getting into routines, a lot of it is around goal-setting, a lot of it is around having somebody to talk to as well when you are in tough times and let’s face it, there has been a couple of days where I have picked up the phone and spoken to Dale Thomas, who is our doctor. He has been excellent to talk to, just to bounce ideas off of a lot of the time. It is crucial that they have a lot of information and they know how to get to people if they need to with everything that is going on in their lives in this period of time.”
Pivac has addressed the on-going speculation over Jonah Holmes, Leicester Tigers and Wales
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Pivac paid tribute to WRU officials for making the decision to postpone the round five championship match, going against government advice at the time and ensuring a sell-out match in Cardiff didn’t wind up accused of being a super spreader of the virus in the UK similar how the Cheltenham racing festival and the Liverpool versus Atletico Madrid Champions League football match are now viewed.
“Hindsight is an easy thing but clearly the right decision was made and you have got to remember government were making decisions around that time and the game wasn’t called off at government level so it was left to the decision-makers at Welsh rugby to come up with the decision they did.
“Clearly they made the right decision and they should be applauded for that. We trained as if the game was going ahead and that is what we needed to do as professionals until we were told otherwise. We were told the game was off and everyone accepted that and what has happened has happened since. The lockdown came in pretty quickly so we are pleased that the game didn’t go ahead.”
The lockdown, though, didn’t prevent some unnamed Wales players from falling ill, but Pivac has confirmed that those affected by the virus are now fit and well again. “I have spoken to all the players from the Six Nations squad individually since the lockdown so I know who is well and who has picked up any sort of illness.
“There are about four or five players all up. No one has been required to go to hospital. They have had symptoms such as coughs and temperature so they have dealt with that at home and come out the other side of that.
“What that is telling us is you could be the fittest bloke in the world but this thing is not going to discriminate. It would appear that young, fit athletes can pick it up as older people can, as males versus females. We have been very, very lucky, very fortunate. No one has been seriously ill with the virus.”
Comments on RugbyPass
We’re building a bridge but can't agree where the river is.
2 Go to commentsfirst no arms shoulder or helmet tackle into his rib cage is going to be so very painful even to watch. go back to RU mate.
1 Go to commentsBulls by 5. Plus another 50.
3 Go to commentsJohan Goosen avatar. Cute. Surely someone at RP knows how to do a google image search?
3 Go to commentsCan’t these games play a little earlier? Asking for a friend.
3 Go to commentsIt’s impressive that we can see huge stadiums with attendance in the 40 000 to 50 000 region. It shows how popular this competition is becoming. What is even more impressive is the massive growth in broadcast viewership. The URC is one of the two best leagues in the World, the other being the Top14.
7 Go to commentsChristie is not Sottish, like the majority of the Scotland team.
2 Go to commentsHold the phone, decline over-rated. Is it a one game, dead cat bounce or the real thing? Has the Penney dropped? Stay tuned.
45 Go to commentsTotally deserved win for the Crusaders Far smarter than the Chiefs who seem to be avoiding the basics when it matters Hotham showed them what was missing and Hannah seems a real find - a tad light but that can be fixed over time
8 Go to commentsGreat insight into the performance culture with Sarries and I predict Christie will be a fixture in the Scotland team now for some time to come. However, he is slightly missing his own point around Scotland “being soft” when he cites physicality examples in defence of that slight. The issue is much closer to the example he referenced around feeling off before a game but being told “it doesn’t matter, you can still play well” by Farrell. Until Scotland can get their psyche in that square, they will carry on folding under extreme pressure…
2 Go to comments> We are having to adapt, evolve and innovate more than when we were in Super Rugby where there was only really one style that everybody had to play to gain the most success. Have = able to? Interesting what that one style might be? I thought SA sides still had bad tours now, or at least bad schedule, months away? Those extra few hours flights have to be a killer though, no surprise to see their sides doing so badly at the start of the season each year. I wouldn’t enjoy that unfairness as a supporter.
7 Go to commentsThe problem for NZ, and Aus, is they ripped up the SR model and lost a massive chunk of revenue that hasn’t been replaced. Don’t forget SA clubs went North because they were left with no choice, Argy unceremoniously binned and Japan cast adrift. Now SR wasn’t perfect, far from it, but they’ve jumped into something without an effective plan, so far, to replace what they’ve lost. The biggest revenue potential now lies in Japan but it won’t be easy or quick to unlock, they are incredibly insular in culture as a nation. In the meantime, there is a serious time bomb sitting under SH rugby and if it happens then the current financial challenges will look like a picnic. IF the Boks follow their provincial teams and head north then it’s revenue meltdown. Not guaranteed to happen but the status quo is a very odd hybrid, with the Boks pointing one way and the clubs pointing the other way. And for as long as that remains then the threat is real.
45 Go to commentsI think Etene has had some good tuition, likely while at the Warriors to be a professional that helped his rugby jump, but he was certainly thrown in the deep end way too early. Should have arguably 20 less SR caps, and therefor a way better record that he does at his age, but his development would have been fast tracked by the need to satiate his signing away from league. Again, credit to him and others that he has done it so well. Easy to fall over under that pressure in the big leagues like that but he kept at it when I myself wasn’t sure he was good enough.
1 Go to commentsAwesome story. I wonder what a bigger American (SA) scene might have mean for Brex.
1 Go to comments“Johnny McNicholl and the Crusaders” save a Penney. Who has been in camp this week and showed them how to play?
8 Go to commentsSo, reports of the Crusaders’ demise / terminal decline are perhaps just - slightly - premature/exaggerated…? 🤔 Will we see a deep-dive into that by the estimable Rugbypass scribes, and maybe one or two mea culpas? Thought not.
8 Go to comments1. The Chiefs are rudderless without DMac, which enhances his AB chances 2. Chiefs pack are powderpuffs. The hard men arent there anymore 3. They had their golden title chance last yr and wont threaten this yr. Gone in second round of playoffs.
8 Go to commentsHonestly, why did you have to publish such a foolish article the day they play us? 😂
45 Go to comments> They are not standalone entities. They are linked to an amateur association which holds the FFR licence that allows the professional side to compete in the league. That’s a great rule. This looks like the chicken or egg professional scenario. How long is it going to be before the club can break even (if that is even a thing in French rugby)? If the locals aren’t into well it would be good to se them drop to amateur level (is it that far?). Hope they can reset from this level and be more practical, there will be a time when they can rebuild (if France has there setup right).
1 Go to commentsWhat about changing the ball? To something heavier and more pointed that bounces unpredictably. Not this almost round football used these days.
35 Go to comments