COULD FUTURES BE ON THE LINE?
WAYNE Pivac is not afraid to play with fire.
His man-management style is high risk, high reward but it has consistently worked in his favour since taking over as Wales head coach in 2019.
He has not been afraid to drop players he feels are not performing, regardless of their reputation.
George North and Adam Beard – first-team stalwarts under Warren Gatland – both received the treatment last autumn.
But it worked. Unquestionably. Both returned to the Wales fold. North went on to enjoy something of a resurgence back to some of his best form and looked a shoo-in for the Lions starting XV before injury struck.
Beard, who now appears an integral part of the Welsh pack, went on to become a Lion this summer, months after being left out in the cold by Pivac.
Owen Watkin, a regular squad player under Gatland, a man who played helped Wales reach the 2019 World Cup semi-final and provided vital interventions during the 2021 Six Nations campaign, hasn’t been selected in the last two squads.
Lions prop Wyn Jones was accused of not being fit enough by Pivac as he was used fleetingly during the autumn series.
Then came the non-selection of Jonathan Davies for the Australia game. Pivac insisted Davies wasn’t being dropped and was on board with the decision to give Nick Tompkins and Willis Halaholo more exposure at Test level.
But as Wales snatched victory from the jaws of defeat, it is unlikely the 99-cap Test centre was thrilled to be anywhere other than in the thick of it all.
To cut a long story short, Pivac is not afraid to leave you out and it doesn’t matter how many caps you’ve got or what you’ve achieved.
In light of that, which players need to find form over the coming months in order to avoid a similar fate in the Six Nations?
JONATHAN DAVIES
The obvious place to start.
For years, the centre has been undroppable. The most dependable of players. But his form since the most recent World Cup has been erratic.
In his defence, things were not easy after the global gathering. He had to recover from another operation on his knee, then his return was staccato.
The pandemic didn’t help and he was eased back into things with a game here and a game there. A few more niggles all equated to a frustrating 12 months or so.
Without a lot of rugby under his belt, he performed very well at inside centre during this year’s Six Nations.
He will be selected in the 2022 European showcase if he’s fit, but for the first time in his Wales career there are significant threats to his position.
Davies will no doubt want a strong festive period to remind everyone of his qualities.
WYN JONES
Pivac’s comments about Jones’s fitness came as a surprise this autumn. Challenging a player so publicly like that is a dangerous game.
But Jones’s reaction will be interesting. In the final years of Gatland’s reign he became an invaluable component of the Welsh pack but will feel he hasn’t put his best foot forward in the last month or so.
In his defence, Jones has had a flatout year of rugby that culminated in the 2021 Lions tour, during which he had to manage an injury.
However, Rhys Carre displayed some form in recent months that suggests he is moving in the right direction. The Cardiff scrum was getting pummelled early in the season but Carre had a very good autumn.
Jones will want to reassert his dominance over the Wales No. 1 jersey and the festive period is a big opportunity.
GARETH DAVIES
In truth, the Lions scrum-half’s grip on the No. 9 jersey has already been loosened.
The prevailing opinion is that Tomos Williams has emerged as Wales’s premier scrum-half after years of Davies being a nailed-on first choice.
That being said, Williams’s performances during the autumn were not emphatic enough for him to be deemed the automatic choice in a position that has caused Pivac no end of headaches.
The door is still ever so slightly ajar and Davies could barge his way back through it with some strong showings over the coming weeks.
But if those performances are not forthcoming, it would only serve to consolidate the status quo and strengthen Williams’s position at the top of the pecking order.
JOHNNY WILLIAMS
There is a lot to like about Johnny Williams at his best.
He almost single-handedly turned around the Scarlets’ fortunes in a riproaring victory over Connacht last season.
But he appears to be some way south of where he would like to be in the pecking order. His game is rooted in power, but if that fails then it leads to questions over what other strings he has to his bow.
There has been enough evidence to suggest he can cut it at the top level but Wales have a number of options at centre.
To stand out in this field, performances need to catch the eye.