What Jamie Roberts would do to fix Wayne Pivac's struggling Wales
Former Wales midfielder Jamie Roberts has identified what Wales need to do in the Autumn Nations Cup to snap their worrying five-game losing streak under Wayne Pivac – keep changes to a minimum and start winning collisions.
Wales’ run of form left them beaten by Scotland last Saturday in Llanelli and consigned to a desultory fifth place Six Nations finish 19 months after they won the Grand Slam in Warren Gatland’s final championship.
Gatland went on to guide Wales to a fourth-place finish at the World Cup in Japan last November but they have struggled since Pivac took charge, a Cardiff win over Italy in February being followed by defeats to Ireland, France, England, France and the Scots.
They next face Ireland in Dublin on November 13 and while disgruntled fans are heaping criticism on Pivac, Roberts has outlined his quick-fix solutions that can get Wales back firing again.
Appearing as co-host on the latest episode of RugbyPass Offload, Roberts said: “I don’t see him [Pivac] making too many changes. I wouldn’t be surprised to see the likes of Callum Sheedy, Ioan Lloyd given the opportunity but around an experienced core of players.
It has been a difficult few weeks for Warren Gatland's successor https://t.co/cgenpbWKp5
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) November 4, 2020
“He probably needs to role the dice a little bit with some younger players. I don’t think the core of the squad will change. There are some wonderful, established, experienced international players there to do the job for Wales who haven’t had too much rugby.
“So over the next six weeks, hopefully we will see those players back fully fit and fully firing because they weren’t good last week against Scotland. It was a poor performance admittedly from the lads and they need to change that run of form pretty quickly.
“They are going to put more width on the game, there is no doubt about that. Teams that Wayne Pivac has coached in the past, they want to put width on the game, they want to keep athletic back rowers in those 15-metre channels to give them opportunities on the ball in space.
“The problem for Wales at the minute revolves around the collisions and contact area, they just got no change there from Scotland who were brilliant. It’s the only time since I started playing Test rugby and since then that I was quite apprehensive about Scotland coming to Wales,” continued Roberts.
“The last time Scotland won in Wales was 2002 and before the match I just had this sneaky feeling. I thought Wales would win but just in the back of my mind, just the quality that Scotland have built over the last couple of seasons and what Gregor has built there, I was a little bit nervous and unfortunately that became reality.
“Wayne wants to add a bit more width to the game, they want to play with pace and utilise the skillset of the players. However, in the northern hemisphere, the weather tends to be wet, the pitches heavy and when you come up against linespeed, you can’t do that unless you win collisions, get quick ball and you go forward.
“Wales just at the minute are not doing that. In the contact area it wasn’t good enough at the weekend and they will be looking to right those wrongs looking into the Ireland game because Ireland, probably more than any team, come after that contact area.”
EPISODE 5 of RUGBYPASS OFFLOAD
Special guest CJ Stander joins Dylan Hartley, Jamie Roberts and Christina Mahon to wrap up the #sixnations2020 and look forward to lots more international Rugby ?
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Spotify – https://t.co/OglUEbEJfY#RPoffload pic.twitter.com/FDq01DV7DC— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) November 4, 2020
Comments on RugbyPass
Beautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
30 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn 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
4 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 Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 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!😭😭😭 !!!
30 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
30 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.
30 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 comments