By Gareth James
Under-pressure Wales coach Wayne Pivac will ring the changes for the Autumn Nations Cup game with Georgia next week.
But the Kiwi will not be one of them as he insisted he was still the man to take Wales forward after the 32-9 defeat against Ireland.
The defeat was a sixth in a row under Pivac leaving former skipper Sam Warburton to say the game against Georgia in Llanelli a must win.
Asked if he was the man to take Wales forward, Pivac said: “Yes.
“The thing from a head coach’s point of view in these situations is when you see the vibe amongst the players.
“If you were in the changing room you would see a very disappointed team but that put in a hell of a shift.
“We had asked for that after the Scotland performance and a positive was the work we had put in without the ball and it was a hell of a defensive effort.
“That speaks volumes of the groups because that is the first area, if we are going to go backwards from the Scotland game, it would have been that.”
Pivac admitted he was planning to make changes against Georgia anyway with England to follow a week later.
“We’re not going to change from our plans, there’ll be a lot of changes for next week which were already pre-planned,” added Pivac.
“That is to give the squad a run in the Georgia game, so we continue to build depth and work hard.
“It’s not as if we’ve being beaten on a regular basis by teams that are much better than us, we’re helping the opposition by giving them too many easy ins and hurting ourselves.
“It’s something we’re working hard to rectify as quickly as we can.”
Wales’ only points came from three Leigh Halfpenny penalties and they never came close to crossing the Irish line.
It is only a year since Wales reached the semi-finals of the Rugby World Cup, coming so close to beating eventual winners South Africa.
But after succeeding Warren Gatland after Japan, Pivac’s only wins of his eight match reign came against the Barbarians and Six Nations whipping-boys Italy.
“We’re concerned about any performance where we don’t get the result and we’ve had a few on the bounce, which is why we’re down,” Pivac said.
“From my point of view it’s not about me, it’s about the team and making sure we give them the best preparation and opportunity to perform.
“I think the preparation has been good. We’re working hard at everything but it is taking a bit of time for us to click and eliminate the errors which are hampering us.
“We have got a lot of players who have come back from serious injury and probably aren’t that at their peak,” said Pivac.
“They and we know that and it’s frustrating and the changes we want to make are taking time and we are making some errors for some players are uncharacteristic.
“We’re looking to change what we’ve done for over 10 years, change mind-sets and it doesn’t happen overnight in my experience. It is something we will continue to work towards because we believe in it.
“It’s roll the sleeves up on Monday and we’re not giving in on this, we’re working towards the (2023) World Cup and it’s going to take time.”
But Warburton – who was initially part of Pivac’s coaching team before leaving to act as a rugby pundit – says victory over Georgia is now crucial.
“Have to win,” said Warburton. “Nothing else matters. From a Welsh perspective they absolutely have to win. We always talk about must-win games but I really do think that’s what it is.
“Ideally, yes [you want a good performance], but you just want to get that W. You’re going into press conference, you’ve lost 5 games, now it’s six. You don’t want that to continue. Nip it in the bud.”