How Pivac found himself list for Wales coach post

IT’S been an historic week for Welsh rugby with Wayne Pivac appointed to succeed Warren Gatland as national team coach after next year’s World Cup.

Never before has the selection process been so thorough and never before has the Wales coach been unveiled so far in advance.

So, what was the thinking of the Welsh Rugby Union in the way they set about choosing their man and why make the appointment now?

Who better to ask than chairman Gareth Davies, who talks to rugby correspondent SIMON THOMAS in the first of a two-part interview. A: The areas we thought we might be challenged on were “why so early?” and about Wayne’s international credentials.

There was also the fact the Scarlets ideally wouldn’t want him to go.

But going early with the appointment almost countered that, as they have now got time to plan and move ahead. We are all too well accustomed to drama and recriminations at moments of crisis in professional sport where coaches are appointed or, dare I say it, sacked.

At times of crisis and stress, it’s easy to make the wrong decisions.

Martyn Phillips and I set off a couple of years ago to try and make sure we wouldn’t experience that sort of crossroads in the future.

We didn’t want to get too close to the World Cup, because I think if we were six or nine months further on we could have been in the middle of a bunfight.

We wanted to get in first and get who we deem to be the best man.

It saves you making decisions on the hoof or a quick decision when you are in a corner. A: Martyn and I started talking more than two years ago. We started putting in place on the Welsh tour to New Zealand in 2016.

Knowing Warren was going after the World Cup, what better place to start than New Zealand?

My first question when speaking to people over there was: “How on earth do you produce so many coaches? What is the secret?”

There wasn’t a secret really, there was just a development programme in place.

Their coaches are also generally more patient and prepared to work through the ranks and go overseas to experience other styles of play and cultures.

I think they have been more conscious than us about the importance of a coach, perhaps surprisingly when you think of the days of Carwyn James, Clive Rowlands and John Dawes.

Maybe we took it for granted a bit while they put plans in place.

While we were out there we bumped into a number of leading coaches, just talking to them to understand what makes them tick and what their values are.

So that’s when the informal process started and then we drew up a list of a dozen or so. The positive was that everybody agreed to meet with us.

The brand, if you like, to be coach of Welsh rugby, was a very positive one. You were talking New Zealand, England, Wales as leading countries.

That gave us a bit of confidence in terms of what we were trying to achieve.

We trawled around various people, rang them up and asked if they wanted to catch up.

Because we had time on our side we used expertise in HR and the opinions of former players, coaches and administrators. Very often those people weren’t sure why we were asking the questions.

We have met a number of coaches around the world over the last couple of years which allowed us to compile a very strong shortlist.

Things moved during the process. Take Wayne, for example.

When we set off, he hadn’t won anything over here. As the Scarlets became successful, things moved.

It has been a really interesting process. It’s also been a very robust and meaningful one. A: Probably not at that stage. But, saying that, I was in Wellington during that trip and talking to somebody there. I mentioned Wayne’s name and the comment was they knew leading players who had played under Graham Henry, Steve Hansen and Pivac and rated Wayne the best of the three.

That was interesting and things like that colour your thinking as time progresses and things fall into place.

The Scarlets’ success over the last couple of years was a big tick in one of the boxes that we deemed as critical, because if you haven’t won anything domestically then you could say it’s unlikely you will win anything internationally. We had a number of criteria. Winning was top of the pile, culture and environment was important, while selection was critical for me.

Wayne ticked a lot of boxes there, especially with his player recognition in terms of recruitment and development. If he has got an eye for that, then I’d imagine he has a good eye for selection.

It took us two years to work through and get to a position where we were quite confident we had the right person.

By the end of the process, Wayne emerged top of the pile and it was a very strong pile.

We are happy and comfortable we have got the best person that we have seen. A: Wayne has a job to do for the next 12 months and I am sure he will be 100 per cent committed to it, but it does give him time to watch and plan.

The Scarlets have been great in this because I am sure the initial thought was ‘oh no, we are losing our head coach,’ especially after their recent successes. They have been fantastic and kept it quiet – it’s all been done in a very professional way.

I would have thought the proposition of coaching the Scarlets is an attractive one for a coach, and not necthings