The reasons why Kiwi Wayne Pivac is a good fit for Wales
The Welsh Rugby Union made the announcement on Monday that Scarlets head coach Wayne Pivac will be the man to replace Warren Gatland after the 2019 Rugby World Cup, when Gatland moves on from the role he has held for 12 years.
Pivac will take the helm at the conclusion of the RWC and will continue to have the sole remit of coaching the Scarlets during the 2018/19 season, with the Kiwi only coming under the WRU’s jurisdiction once the coming season is over, when announcements on his backroom staff will also likely be made.
It’s impossible to have missed the stellar job that Pivac has done with the Scarlets, taking the Welsh region to the summit of the Guinness PRO12, as well as making them a force to contend with in Europe, all the whilst on a smaller budget than many of their Irish, English and French rivals.
Of course, he has been able to recruit from abroad in order to realise that meteoric rise, something which he won’t be able to do as Wales head coach – unless he’s willing to wait five years for the player to qualify – but it has been measured recruitment. Recruitment to supplement, rather than recruiting to build around.
The likes of Tadhg Beirne, Hadleigh Parkes and Jonny McNicholl have played key roles in the Scarlets’ recent success, but the bigger story has been what he has got out of the Welsh players under his tutelage, the majority of whom were already at the Scarlets when he arrived, as well as a handful who have been brought in from other regions.
James Davies and Liam Williams are two of the most prominent to flourish under Pivac, whilst the front-row of Rob Evans, Ken Owens and Samson Lee is a match for anyone in Europe, whether that’s at the set-piece or in the loose.
Who, hand on heart, saw Aaron Shingler becoming the player he is now when Pivac was hired back in 2014? Steff Evans, Gareth Davies, Jake Ball, the list goes on.
The WRU will expect him to bring that same ability to get the most out of the players at his disposal to the national job and whilst an international gig is obviously a very different beast to the demands of a PRO14 job, it is perhaps one which is getting less different by the year.
The reason why Pivac is such a good hire – to this writer, at the least – is that he is an extremely good fit for the direction in which international rugby is moving.
The old adages about club and international rugby being poles apart are still somewhat true and it is why players who are excelling in the PRO14, Premiership or Top 14 aren’t automatically successes at Test level or, in some instances, aren’t even picked.
The gap is narrowing, though. Not necessarily in terms of quality, but in terms of the style of rugby played.
It really wasn’t that long ago that you could win an international game with a strong scrum and an accurate goal-kicker. Changes to the engagement sequence, the desire for props to play an all-court game and the general shift in attitude towards teams wanting to play heads-up, high tempo attacking rugby, has ended that as a realistic possibility or philosophy on which to build a team.
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Given that the source of your players is the club game, it’s only natural that the playing style at Test level would begin to match that of the competitions in which the players play week in, week out. It’s no different to the NFL, where America’s showpiece sporting competition has adopted the spread offence with such gusto, something which is rife at the collegiate level, where the NFL sides replenish their playing pool from each year. At its core, this is simply seeking to play to the strengths of your own players.
International rugby is not as loose as the club game and won’t be for some time, if it ever is at all, but that is the direction of the shift we are seeing at Test level. Finding a coach that will thrive in that environment is paramount and Pivac ticks that box emphatically.
He also brings a knowledge of the current Wales team, the squads of the four regions and the emerging stars coming through the WRU’s age-grade pathway that no coach based outside of Wales could possibly have.
You can already predict the temporary outrage from Ospreys, Cardiff Blues and Dragons fans when Pivac picks his first Scarlets-heavy squad, but it is temporary and will soon dissipate as he either begins to win games or gets those players from the other three regions into a training camp and explains what he needs them to do for them to feature in future squads.
He will have to adapt, of course. He can’t come in and expect Wales to play like the Scarlets and have immediate success, even if the international game is becoming a more fluid, high-tempo entity.
The blueprint is there for how he can make Wales a more consistently clinical side with ball-in-hand, but until he can get the group up to speed with one another and his expectations, there will be certain situations where he will have to diverge, significantly, from what he demands of the Scarlets.
Less running it from deep, some opportunities at three points that can’t be turned down and potentially some adjustments at the contact area, but it shouldn’t be a problem for a coach of his calibre.
This idea that attacking-minded coaches are idealistic dreamers whose domain is club rugby is highly suspect, with the majority of them every bit as pragmatic as the eldest of old school defence and forwards coaches. After all, five or seven points is more than three, right? And more points win you more games, right?
He knows the international arena, too, having coached Fiji for three years and the five seasons he will have spent with Scarlets come the start of his tenure with Wales will have prepared him well for the realities of northern hemisphere international rugby, in particular.
What Wales have got themselves following the RWC next year is a progressive and intelligent coach, who knows the players at his disposal, is aware of the young stars about to break into senior rugby and who is the perfect fit, stylistically, for the evolving international game.
Identifying that person, securing them and being able to put in place concrete transitional plans over a year out from its implementation, is a very adept piece of businesses from the WRU.
The onus is now on the Scarlets to find themselves as good a coach as they did when Simon Easterby left for Ireland back in 2014.
Comments on RugbyPass
Lets compare apples with apples. Lyon sent weak team the week before, but nobody raised an eyebrow. Give the South African teams a few years to build their depth, then you will be moaning that the teams are too strong.
41 Go to commentsDid footballs agents also perform the scout role at some time? I’m surprised more high profile players haven’t taken up the occupation, great way to remain in the game and use all that experience without really requiring a lot of specific expertise?
1 Go to commentsSuper rugby is struggling but that has little to do with sabbaticals. 1. Too many teams from Aust and NZ - should be 3 and 4 respectively, add in 2 from Japan, 1 possibly 2 from Argentina. 2. Inconsistent and poor refereeing, admittedly not restricted to Super rugby. Only one team was reffed at the breakdown in Reds v H’Landers match. Scrum penalty awarded in Canes v Drua when No 8 had the ball in the open with little defence nearby - ideal opportunity to play advantage. Coming back to Reds match - same scrum situation but ref played advantage - Landers made 10 yards and were penalised at the breakdown when the ref should have returned to scrum penalty. 3. Marketing is weak and losing ground to AFL and NRL. Playing 2 days compared with 4. 4. Scheduling is unattractive to family attendance. Have any franchises heard of Sundays 2pm?
10 Go to commentsAbsolutely..all they need is a chance in yhe playoffs and I bet all the other teams will be nervous…THEY KNOW HOW TO WIN IM THE PLAYOFFS..
2 Go to commentsI really hope he comes back and helps out with some coaching.
1 Go to commentsI think we are all just hoping that the Olympic 7s doesn’t suffer the same sad fate as the last RWC with the officials ruining the spectacle.
1 Go to commentsPersonally, I’ve lost the will to even be bothered about the RFU, the structure, the participants. It’s all a sham. I now simply enjoy getting a group of friends together to go and watch a few games a year in different locations (including Europe, the championship, etc). I feel extremely sorry for the real fans of these clubs who are constantly ignored by the RFU and other administrators. I feel especially sorry for the fans of clubs in the Championship who have had considerable central funding stripped away and are then expected to just take whatever the RFU put to them. Its all a sham, especially if the failed clubs are allowed to return.
9 Go to commentsI’m guessing Carl Hayman would have preferred to have stayed in NZ with benefit of hindsight. Up north there is the expectation to play twice as many games with far less ‘player management’ protocols that Paul is now criticising. Less playing through concussions means longer, healthier, careers. Carter used as the eg here by Paul, his sabbatical allowed him to play until age 37. OK its not an exact science but there is far more expectations on players who sign for Top 14 or Engl Prem clubs to get value for the huge salaries. NZR get alot wrong but keeping their best players in NZ rugby is not one of them. SA clubs are virtually devoid of their top players now, no thanks. They cant threaten the big teams in the Champions Cup, the squads have little depth. Cant see Canes/Chiefs struggling. Super has been great this year, fantastic high skill matches. Drua a fantastic addition and Jaguares will add another quality team eventually. Aus teams performing strongly and no doubt will benefit with the incentive of a Lions tour and a home RWC. Let Jordie enjoy his time with Leinster, it will allow the opportunity for another player to emerge at Canes in his absence.
10 Go to commentsLove that man, his way to despise angry little men is so funny ! 😂
4 Go to comments“South African franchises would be powerhouses if we had all our overseas based players back in situ. We would have the same unbeatable aura the Toulouses, Leinsters or Saracens of this world have had over the last decade or so.” Proof that Jake white does not understand the economics of the game in SA. Players earning abroad are not going to simply come back and represent the bulls. But they might if they have a springbok contract.
22 Go to commentsA lot of fans just joined in for the fun of it! We all admire O'Gara and what he has done for La Rochelle
4 Go to commentsThe RFU will find a way to mess this up as usual. My bet is there will be no promotion into the the Premiership, only relegation into National League One. Hopefully they won’t parachute failed clubs into the league at the expense of clubs who have battled for promotion.
9 Go to commentsWell that’s the contracts for RG and Jordie bought and paid for. Now, what are the chances we can persuade Antoine to hop over with all the extra dosh we’ll have from living at the Aviva & Croke next season…??? 🤑🤑🤑
35 Go to commentsWow, that’s incredible. Great for rugby.
35 Go to commentsYou probably read that parling is going to coach the wallaby lineout but if not before now you have.
14 Go to commentsIf someone like Leo Cullen was in O’Gara’s place I don’t hear Boo-ing. It’s not just that La Rochelle has hurt Leinster and O’Gara is their Irish boss. It’s the needle that he brings and the pantomime activity before the game around pretending that Munster were supporting LaRochelle just because O’Gara is from Cork. That’s dividing Irish provinces just to get an advantage for his French Team. He can F*ck right off with that. BOOOOO! (but not while someone is lying injured)
4 Go to commentsDid the highlanders party too hard before the game? They were the pits.
1 Go to commentsWhat a player! Not long until he’s in the England side, surely?
5 Go to commentsHe seems to have the same aura as Marcus Smith - by which I mean he’s consistently judged as if he’s several years younger than he actually is. Mngomezulu has played 24 times for the Stormers. When Pollard was his age he had played 24 times for South Africa! He has more time to develop, but he has also had time to do some developing already, and he hasn’t demonstrated nearly as much talent in that time as one would expect. If he is a generational talent, then it must be a pretty poor generation.
6 Go to commentsThe greatest Springbok coach of all time is entirely on the money. Rassie and Jacques have given the south african public a great few years, but the success of the springbok selection policy will need to be judged in light of what comes next. The poor condition that the provincial system is currently in doesn’t bode well for the next few years of international rugby, and the insane 2026 schedule that the Boks have lined up could also really harm both provincial and international consistency.
22 Go to comments