By Paul Jones
Wayne Pivac admitted Wales “didn’t fire too many shots” as his tough start to life as national head coach continued against Scotland.
His team ended their Six Nations campaign condemned to their fifth straight defeat in Llanelli, with the Scots ruining Alan Wyn Jones’ landmark day in Test rugby with a 14-10 win.
Wales captain Jones made a record 149th Test appearance but the veteran lock forward was on the losing side as Scotland claimed a first win on Welsh soil since 2002.
Scotland dominated possession and territory at a wind-lashed Parc y Scarlets and won the battle of the breakdown, with flanker Jamie Ritchie named man of the match.
Replacement hooker Stuart McInally scored the decisive try just after the hour mark to put Scotland 11-7 in front.
It is the first time since 2007 that Wales have managed only one win in the Six Nations Championship.
Pivac, who beat the Barbarians and Italy after succeeding Warren Gatland, said: “It’s not going to be lost on us, it was the worst defeat in terms of performance.
“We didn’t fire too many shots. We have to go away and put a line in the sand, because we have got two weeks to build into the Autumn Cup.
“We have to lick our wounds and make sure we make the right impression in that tournament.
“But we must improve because we lost our way in the last half-hour in the breakdown. We’ll certainly look at that because the breakdown killed us.
“I thought the breakdown was the big difference today.
“We had worked quite hard on that during the week but certainly we need to have a look at that area of the game and make sure we get it right for the next game.
“We didn’t get any flow that allowed us to play. We want to play with speed, we want to play with tempo. When you don’t get that you can’t play much rugby.”
With the pressure set to ramp up on the New Zealander, Pivac insists the job was not tougher than he imagined and his side will improve.
“There are fine margins and we realise that, we’re not playing consistently well over 80 minutes,” said Pivac.
“There has been some change in personnel, in how we want to do things. But today’s result isn’t about change, the breakdown killed us today. We would single this out as one we shouldn’t have lost.
“We do what coaches do and we keep working very hard. We’ll pull the games to bit, we’ll look at formations and we’ll look to turn it around in the next fixture.”
Well done @Scotlandteam deserved the win. Not the best game but a win is a win at that level. @WelshRugbyUnion just need to regroup get back to basics.
— Jonathan Davies OBE (@JiffyRugby) October 31, 2020
Skipper Jones said: “We’ve got to improve, it’s as simple as that.
“They (Welsh public) have got high expectations from the previous 12 years. Of those 12 years we won three grand slams and a championship. We can’t really forget the eight years that were pretty dormant. We’ve got to work to change that.”
Fly-half Dan Biggar and tighthead Dillon Lewis suffered back and rib injuries respectively while flanker Justin Tipuric pulled out before the game after suffering from tonsillitis.