WRU SCRAP PIVAC CLAUSE
Kiwi gets union’s full backing for next two years, at least
THE Welsh Rugby Union has delivered a ringing endorsement to Wayne Pivac by removing a contract ‘break clause’ that could have seen him leaving his post.
The clause in Pivac’s deal could have been triggered to end his tenure this summer were things not working out.
After a difficult start as head coach, Pivac’s position had been under scrutiny.
But a spectacular turnaround, which culminated in winning the 2021 Six Nations, has seen the Union give the Kiwi its full backing for the next two years, at least. In an email to all member clubs, new permanent chief executive Steve Phillips wrote: “Wayne Pivac has the 2023 Rugby World Cup firmly in his sights and a comprehensive plan for Wales to arrive there at the peak of our powers, with the full backing of the Welsh Rugby Union to achieve that aim.
“We meet after every campaign to discuss how we are tracking against any plan. We met after the Autumn Nations Cup. That campaign, as stated publicly by management at the time, was about giving players the opportunity to experience Test rugby and to give management the opportunity to see how they fared.
“Wayne was equally unambiguous about his distinction between the autumn and the Guinness Six Nations Championship, where we would be playing tournament rugby and results mattered.
“If silverware was the only measure then, of course, winning both the Triple Crown and the tournament itself can be viewed as ‘mission accomplished.’
“It is vitally important that we assess our progress in a considered way. In professional sport it is possible to go from hero to zero and back again in a fortnight.
“To avoid ‘knee-jerk’ reactions we measure progress against short and long-term goals. Wayne, the management and the players are, by any measure, progressing extremely well.
“Winning the Championship this year was an obvious short-term goal, but we have been equally impressed by what was achieved this autumn when the stall was set to blood new players, improve strength in depth and bed in a new and varied approach to tactics and game plans.
“Wayne and his management team and players have delivered. I know I speak on behalf of the board and everyone at the WRU in congratulating them on their achievements and we look forward to following their continued progress on the road to France 2023.”
Wales are due to announce their summer plans soon, with the scheduled tour to Argentina and Uruguay in huge doubt because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
If that tour doesn’t go ahead, Wales plan to arrange alternative fixtures, possibly against the same opponents, but on Welsh soil.
ANYONE fortunate enough to be at the old National Stadium when Wales played Scotland in 1994 could have been forgiven for feeling they had been transported back two decades.
From losing to Canada just months earlier, players in red were suddenly handling with skill and confidence and running in breathtaking tries. It was Life on Mars rugby, a long time before the TV show.
Wins over France and Ireland followed before a sobering setback against a bigger England side at Twickenham. But Wales were crowned Five Nations champions. However, it didn’t last. The following season they were whitewashed and the management team led by head coach Alan Davies resigned, almost exactly 26 years ago to the day.
Let’s suggest it wasn’t the WRU’S finest hour.
Davies was a coach ahead of his time, putting the Wales squad on a more professional footing. He introduced psychometric testing to the set-up and focused on fitness, diet and analysis; he thought not so much outside the box as beyond the stratosphere; he involved players and put an arm around them when they were struggling.
In many ways, he was Wales’ first new-age coach. Results picked up, too. From winning just one Five Nations game in three years, Wales won six over the same period under Davies.
But in 1995, the gods turned against him.
Scott Quinnell left for rugby league, while bad injury news came in waves. At various points, eight of the players who had performed so well for him the previous year were off limits.
He finally walked amid unhappiness over apparent limitations placed on him in the matter of picking his own team. He later told The Sunday Times his thinking was: “I carried the can for performance, so I’m going to pick the team.” Not unreasonable? Hey-ho. Wales lost a coach of serious quality who might just have steered them clear of the pitfalls that were to follow.
When Davies resigned, his forwards coach Gareth Jenkins and team manager Bob Norster did so as well.
Wales duly crashed and burned at the World Cup that summer. Patience and understanding had been needed, but they were in short supply.
Here’s the team that delivered a title in 1994, only to break up all too quickly:
15. Anthony Clement/mike Rayer
These two each began a couple of games at full-back during the 1994 campaign.
Clement also figured against France in the centre, with Rayer coming off the bench twice, most notably to steal the show with a two-try display in the rain against Scotland.
Both became club legends: Clement at Swansea and Rayer at Cardiff.
Clement still lives and works in his home city, holding down a management position for Handelsbanken PLC, while Rayer has been Bedford’s director of rugby since 2005.
14. Ieuan Evans
One of Wales’ finest wings and a player who held his standards throughout his career. When his country were going through some of their darkest times, Evans kept delivering.
Captain during the 1994 season, he finished his international days with 33 tries from 72 caps. Also excelled for the Lions.
Since finishing playing, Evans has worked as a rugby pundit and spent time on a number of boards outside the game.
In 2020, he became a national council member of the Welsh Rugby Union. He is also on the Lions board.
13. Mike Hall
Some reckoned this was Hall’s finest season.
He was to the fore against Ireland, setting up Wales’ try with a lovely break.
Never short of confidence, he worked as a TV pundit after packing in playing before embarking on a successful career in property development.
12. Nigel Davies
A class act who made almost 500 appearances for Llanelli and represented Wales 29 times, once as captain.
Went on to coach the Scarlets, Gloucester and Wales.
Also spent a dozen years working in the automotive industry and has been a management consultant.
11. Nigel Walker
If any youngster wants to know how to finish, watch Walker taking his opportunity against France in 1994. It helps if you are an Olympian who can run 100 metres in 10.47 seconds, mind.
Walker provided Alan Davies’ team with a cutting edge.
His post-playing career has included jobs as head of sport at BBC Wales and as national director with the English Institute of Sport. He joined the Cardiff Blues board in 2020.
10. Neil Jenkins
A Welsh rugby hero, though it didn’t always appear he was destined for such status early in his career when some took issue with the fact that he wasn’t a cross between Barry John and Phil Bennett.
But Jenkins won over the doubters with the sheer consistency and excellence of his play, making the most out of every ounce of talent he had.
His goal-kicking was a thing of wonder. Whether at Wembley in 1999 or out of the mud at Sardis Road, penalties and conversions went over, many from improbable angles and distances.
Jenkins was humble with it, regularly staying on the pitch for 45 minutes to sign autograph books during his time at Pontypridd. The embodiment of a local hero? Absolutely.
Has worked as part of the Wales coaching set-up since 2004.
9. Rupert Moon
Qualifying for Wales via the residency rule, Moon was an energiser on and off the field, without a negative bone in his body. Undoubtedly, there have been more cultured No. 9s, but this guy got the job done and was as brave as they come.
His post-playing career has been varied, including a spell heading up rugby in north Wales. He has also been a strategy director for a property group, a trustee of the Welsh Rugby Charitable Trust and a patron of Tenovus.
We can’t forget his role as the Baron in a pantomime production of Buttons Undone.
If ever a man was made for the stage, it was Rupert Henry St John Barker Moon.
1. Ricky Evans
The west Walian didn’t make his Wales debut until 33.
But he made up for it with a number of committed displays. He played a key role in the 1994 success, only for injury to intervene the following year.
He later revealed he had found inner peace by converting to Buddhism.
Has travelled the world in various roles since, including working in Dubai for the airport fire service.
2. Garin Jenkins
One of Welsh rugby’s key players of the 1990s, Jenkins became a Swansea RFC legend and his country’s most-capped hooker.
Ynysybwl’s finest is a raconteur off the pitch and was a warrior on it, one of Wales’ great scrummaging No. 2s.
He became a committed Christian, went on to coach and has worked at the British Oxygen Gas and Gear Shop in Margam, also finding time to operate as a witty and perceptive radio pundit.
3. John Davies
Starting out as part of Neath’s celebrated front row of farmers alongside Brian Williams and Kevin Phillips, Davies could scrummage and was a force around the field. Subsequently played for Richmond and Llanelli, representing both with distinction. Not that long ago, he made headlines when turning out for his village club Crymych at the age of 49.
Has taken to his van of late to sell farm-related products.
4. Phil Davies
”The rock around which the forward effort was built.” So reckoned the Rugby Annual for Wales after Davies’ efforts in helping Wales to the title.
Hugely popular, he went on to take his cap haul to 46.
Achieved success as a coach with Leeds and guided the Scarlets to a Heineken Cup semi-final
in 2007. Now back as director of rugby at Yorkshire Carnegie.
5. Gareth Llewellyn
Go-to man in the line-out who won 92 caps for Wales and skippered them seven times, including in the win over France in ‘94. His playing career saw him figure under eight Wales coaches across three decades. Coached at Thornbury, Tonmawr and Neath.
Works as a sales executive with Lima Orthopaedics, a supplier of medical devices.
6. Emyr Lewis
Tarw the Bull gave Wales ball-carrying impetus and went on to win 41 caps for his country, rarely under-performing in any of them.
Found his niche away from the game in the photocopying business. Was also to find contentment as a committed Christian.
7. Mark Perego
Idosyncratic? That’s one word for a man who used to train by running through rivers topless and chopping down trees.
Scott Quinnell tells a revealing story in Ross Harries’ book Behind the Dragon: Playing Rugby for Wales.
Ahead of the game with England in ‘94, Wales’ players had lined up to meet the Queen. Formality was the order of the day. All protocols were observed until it came to Wales’ No. 7 that day. Here was a man who was not about to awed by a regal presence, who was not hidebound by custom or etiquette developed over centuries.
“Mark Perego grabbed her thumb and gave here the old ‘street’ handshake – ‘What’s up, ma’am?’” recalls Quinnell.
“I was thinking: ‘What the hell are you doing? She’s our Queen.’
“But that was Pegs. A true eccentric.”
Perego delivered on the pitch with his supreme levels of fitness and uncompromising tackling.
Worked as a fireman.
8. Scott Quinnell
He’d had a magnificent age-grade career – one Rugby Football Union committeeman described him as a “colossus” as he scored four tries for Wales Youth against England Colts in 1991 -- but this was the campaign when he truly announced himself on the senior stage.
His performance against France should have had Ravel’s Bolero playing in the background. “Perfect”, someone described it as. “Career-defining,” a team-mate called it.
The big man packed a spell in rugby league into his playing days.
But it’s in union that he’s most remembered.
He’s a TV personality and rugby pundit these days.