Wales slumped to their fourth defeat in a row under Wayne Pivac as the pressure already begins to mount on Warren Gatland’s successor. Big things were expected of the New Zealander who vowed to instil a more attacking mindset in this Welsh side. Things haven’t gone to plan up to now but Steffan Thomas outlines how a degree of patience is required.
Wales slipped to a crushing defeat to a resurgent France in Paris and the knives are already out for Wayne Pivac.
But Pivac is no stranger to criticism having been here before when coaching the Scarlets and back home in New Zealand.
Pivac’s tenure in Llanelli is generally thought to be a success but back in the 2016/17 season the former Auckland coach was on the brink after losing their first three games of their campaign.
Plenty of patience going to be required under the new coaching team of Wayne Pivac & Co. Whether that will be enough for the 3 million selectors in Wales remains to be seen.
— The Events Room (@TheEventsRoom) October 24, 2020
A vitriolic Twitter campaign #Pivacout was circulating on social media with the Scarlets struggling in all aspects of play.
But the New Zealander turned it around as the west Walians claimed the PRO12 title in scintillating fashion before reaching the semi-finals of the following season’s Heineken Champions Cup on a far smaller budget than many of their competitors.
Similarly he struggled early in his Auckland career before his side finally clicked winning three National Provincial Championships and the Ranfurly Shield.
Historically Pivac has struggled in the early stages of most jobs he has been in before achieving periods of success which culminated in silverware.
Will history repeat itself this time?
Well it’s safe to say the jury is well and truly out but he does deserve the benefit of the doubt for now.
Wales will hope Pivac can turn their fortunes around in a similar fashion to what he did at the Scarlets after slipping to a fourth straight defeat for the first time since 2016.
And he will need to because international rugby is far more unforgiving than the regional game but patience is required.
There were small glimpses of what could be achieved in attack at the Stade de France but their defence was unpicked far too easily as they conceded five tries while the visitors were also annihilated at the breakdown.
In the same fashion as David Moyes replacing Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United it was always going to be difficult for Pivac to emulate the success of Warren Gatland who enjoyed unprecedented success during his 12 years in Wales.
The players are still coming to terms with a new style of rugby and Pivac deserves to be cut some slack as he attempts to stamp his authority on his squad.
After next weekend’s test against Scotland Wales will compete in the one off Autumn Nations Cup before embarking on another Six Nations campaign in the new year.
Pivac will have plenty of time to get a tune out of a hugely talented group of players and if he doesn’t there could be trouble ahead.
While the plan is for Pivac to take Wales through to the 2023 Rugby World Cup in France there is a breakout clause in his contract at the end of 2021.
There won’t be any panic at this stage but if results don’t improve then the WRU might be forced into making a change given the amount of revenue a successful national side generates the game in this country.
Pivac has 12 test matches until his contract is reviewed so there is plenty of time to improve matters in a similar vein to what happened in Llanelli.
During Warren Gatland’s tenure Wales were first and foremost an extremely difficult side to beat even if they weren’t easy on the eye.
Wales’ defence is an issue. A major issue.
— Andrew Baldock (@balders2) October 24, 2020
At the moment it is too easy to score tries against this Welsh side and if this isn’t fixed their attacking game becomes almost an irrelevance.
There is also little structure to the forwards who were blown away at the contact area meaning Wales’ half-backs had no platform to dictate the game.
For all Wales’ attacking intent if the basics aren’t in place Pivac can forget about achieving any tangible success.
Welsh fans are an impatient bunch and it’s safe to say he hasn’t enjoyed their full backing up to this point.
But the shrewder point of view would be to reserve judgement until after this upcoming season of international rugby.
By that point Pivac will have had plenty of time to shape this team to his liking and if performances don’t improve you’d imagine he’d be under serious pressure.
As Aristotle said “patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet.”
Lets hope this is the case with Pivac and Wales.