Pivac plays high stakes in dropping players... but bold calls are paying off
DROPPING a player is a bold call.
As easy as it is to chastise coaches for continually “not picking on form”, there is the human element of selection which often gets downplayed.
Sure, you could pick a different XV each week and point to the fact you’re picking the players with the best form, but you’d have to balance that with the effects it has on the players and their confidence.
Telling an established player they’re not in the matchday squad – or even the wider squad – is a tough job.
That’s why coaches are paid the big bucks.
To his credit, Wayne Pivac has never been afraid to make those bold decisions.
In fact, those familiar with how Pivac brought about success with the Scarlets probably wondered how some of those traits would transition to the international game.
John Barclay, one of his former charges at the Scarlets, has spoken before how Pivac committed to the long-term thinking at the Scarlets with bold calls, even if it meant taking some flak early on.
“At Scarlets, he was responsible, along with the group of senior players, for transforming the squad and the way things were done,” Barclay told the Times earlier this year.
He joined a club who were set in their ways and locked into the mindset that they had a divine right to be successful.
“Wayne made hard decisions, taking the long-term approach to success. He removed the deadwood – a group of players tried to have him ousted after two months in the job – and he empowered the players to enjoy the responsibility that came with playing for one of the most famous clubs in Wales. In the space of three years he took them from mid-table to Guinness Pro12 champions in 2017 and runnersup the following year.
“As far as coaching was concerned, Wayne handed over a lot of the duties to Stephen Jones and Byron Hayward. Again, he was looking at the big picture, concentrating his efforts on management of the environment, team selection and squad recruitment.”
Pivac has by and large followed that same structure. He’s looked to the future, as shown by how he treated the autumn campaign and the depth he built by blooding new caps. He’s also
empowered the players, as Barclay alluded to.
Speaking ahead of Saturday’s match, Wales and Scarlets fly-half Rhys Patchell further explained how Pivac builds a winning environment.
“Wayne is very good at creating an environment where the boys feel they’re driving it,” he told BBC Radio 5 Live.
“Then when you get some momentum, it feels like a self-fulfilling prophecy. It’s a real strength Wayne has.”
We’re starting to see the fruits of Pivac’s labour now.
Perhaps the only part of Barclay’s breakdown we’ve not really seen is “removing the deadwood”. It’s no real surprise, given the differences between club and international rugby.
Unlike club rugby, you can’t get rid of players and replace them with new marquee signings who fit your philosophy.
But while “getting rid of deadwood” isn’t as final a decision as it is at club level, Pivac has still recognised the need to keep players on their toes. In that sense, he’s perhaps gone down a slightly different route than his predecessor Warren Gatland.
At this level, you’ve got to work with what you’ve got. Gatland knew that only too well, adapting his philosophy to suit the players at his disposal.
He also kept faith in those he knew, rarely dropping players unless he felt they’d served their purpose.
Already though, Pivac saw fit to exclude two relatively established names from his autumn squad in Elliot Dee and Adam Beard – saying they needed time with their clubs to work on their game.
That’s a pretty run-of-the-mill line from a coach and, given how often it’s said, you can become a little desensitised to it. All too often, it’s a throwaway comment to explain why someone’s been dropped.
Yet Pivac genuinely meant it and it’s been the boost both players have needed. Beard has been a constant in the Welsh pack, helping to solidify the lineout, while Dee has re-established himself as Ken Owens’ deputy – having arguably his best game in a Wales jersey off the bench against England on Saturday.
Dee, in particular, admitted that being dropped was exactly what he needed to improve his game after he received the dreaded phone call from Pivac before the autumn.
“It was one of those situations where you think ‘do I really want to answer this?’ But I talked it through with Wayne and we agreed that I hadn’t been in my top, top form,” said Dee.
“Straight away when I came off the phone I realised that I needed to pull my socks up a bit and work on things if that was where I wanted to get back to.”
PIvac has seen the improvements he wanted in them and now they’ve been rewarded.
“He’s a player who has part of a very successful team for the last 18 months, in particular under Warren,” Pivac said about recalling Beard at the time.
“There are certain things he can do which no-one else can do given his size alone. We really wanted him to improve his all-round game and to go away and work on that.
“He has shown some improvements, but there is more to come we believe.”
In turn, the likes of Seb Davies, who had been a regular in Pivac’s squads after falling down the pecking order with Gatland, and Sam Parry now have work on their hands to get back into contention.
That competition for places is only a good thing.
Even within the squad, Pivac has shaken things up in terms of expectations to start.
Under Gatland, George North had been a permanent fixture in the starting XV – even when things weren’t going well.
Even if the weight of the world was seemingly on his shoulders, Gatland backed North to play his way through the tough times. Sometimes it worked, other times it didn’t.
Pivac’s taken a totally new approach to North, dropping him from the side at one stage.
He even said in a press conference it was an easy call.
The result? North has risen to the challenge laid out by his coach and is playing some of his best rugby and thriving in a new position.
Dropping players is a high-stake call. To stick with the status quo is often the easier thing to do, but so far, Pivac has largely had success with what he’s wanted to do.
His latest big call was to drop Rhys Webb ahead of the Six Nations.
Pivac was clear with what he wanted to see from the scrum-half, calling on Webb to improve his speed and accuracy of passing.
“Rhys and I had a good chat around the accuracy of his passing game, which he needs to work on and get those numbers back up,” Pivac said ahead of the tournament.
“We just questioned his pace at the top end of the game. The other three [Gareth Davies, Kieran Hardy and Tomos Williams] all bring electric pace, we know that.
“That is something that is in question at the moment with Rhys.
“But he’s not out of the loop in terms of playing for Wales in the future, he’s just not going to be selected for this tournament at this stage.”
The door, at that stage, wasn’t closed and Webb has responded with a string of blinding performances and man of the match awards. He’s certainly a man with a point to prove.
The fact that, after not calling up Webb when Tomos Williams suffered an injury, Pivac said “I think Rhys has talked about not wanting to be a number three and Lloyd [Williams] is a perfect number three for us” isn’t exactly promising, but it’s not a death knell to Webb’s Test career either.
What Pivac has shown so far is that if he drops you in order to work on something, he’s more than willing to reward you when you put that hard work in.