Pivac on... autumn finale, problems at prop and leaving out veteran Davies
WALES have named their final team of the autumn ahead of Saturday’s clash with Australia.
Wayne Pivac will look to end an injury-hit autumn campaign on a high as he welcomes Dave Rennie’s Wallabies to Cardiff.
Here’s everything the Wales coach had to say after naming his team:
Question: Can you talk to us about the players returning from Injury and what a boost that is?
Wayne Pivac: “Firstly, to cover off the concussions we had, we had three last week. In terms of Willgriff John and Will Rowlands, they were ruled out within our own coaching and medical group. With the short turnaround, we didn’t pursue that one at all.
“Tomas [Francis] is seeing an independent consultant this evening [Thursday] so he’s been named on the proviso he comes through that. Failing that, we’ve obviously been training with a plan B all week. But it is good to have players like Aaron Wainwright back, there’s no doubt about that.
“Wyn Jones has done a lot of hard work in the last few weeks. He’s been training hard and jumps back into loose-head. The workload that Rhys Carre has had has been quite big in terms of his international experience.”
Q: What exactly would the tight-head plan B look like?
WP: “We’ve got a couple of options. Wyn Jones covering is one. We’ve got Dillon Lewis there and we have the opportunity of bringing someone in if we need to.”
Q: How fit is everyone ahead of this final autumn game?
WP: “It’s been a challenging week for players and management. It’s been three very physical matches at a time of the season where preparation probably wasn’t the best we’d have liked. They’ve put in a lot of effort in the past few weeks. There’s light at the end of the tunnel for the players.
“There’s one big match left to go. We’ve given them a good rest this week.
“Today’s the first big training day. It’s been a very short training week but we’d like to think everyone knows their roles. It’s about freshening up for one last big effort.”
Q: What’s the reasoning for Seb Davies over Ben Carter in the second-row?
WP: “Couple of things with that: Seb has been going well. We’ve asked him to do a role at No. 6. Second-row is well-known to him and he’s been training well. With the injury to Will, he brings a little bit of size and experience.
“Young Ben will come off the bench at some stage if required and he’s been calling lineouts so if something happens to Adam, he’s the natural replacement.
“We also liked what Christ brought to the game last week. He was full of energy, he made a heck of a lot of tackles in a short space of time. We think putting him out in another big game will be great for him and we’ll learn a lot more about him. He’ll learn a lot more about this level of rugby.”
Q: Was it tough to leave out Jonathan Davies?
WP: “I had a good chat with Jonathan. Obviously, he’d love to be out there playing, 90-odd caps and one away from 100 Test matches altogether combined with the Lions. We know about him.
“We wanted to have a look at Willis [Halaholo] earlier in the autumn but we weren’t able to because of the Covid situation. He came off the bench last week and did a lot. We want to see him in his first start to see how he goes. We think he’s earned the right to start and Nick [Tompkins] played well last week so we’ll go with that combination.”
Q: Can Jonathan Davies reach 100 Test caps despite this setback?
WP: “Look, I have no doubt. We’ve spoken to Jonathan about that. He’s hungry. He’s just as hungry as if he had one or two caps. He desperately wants to play for his country. He knows he’s got more to give. He’ll go back to club rugby and look to force his way back into the side.”
Q: What are you expecting from Australia?
WP: “They’ll be very, very dangerous. Also, Dave Rennie, like any coach, is a very proud man and he’ll want to rectify those losses. If you look at them in isolation, I thought they were unlucky to lose against Scotland. There were a few decisions that they’ll look back on and think they were hard done by. So you can take that one out of it.
“England at Twickenham is a very difficult opponent. They’ve come off a long season. They’ll be looking at it like us. One more big effort. Knowing Dave, he’ll have them wound up and playing right on the edge, just like Dave Rennie sides always are.”
Q: What’s the latest with Josh Adams? Could his injury still keep him out?
WP: “He’s training today. We’ve named him on the basis he’ll come through training. We’ve been advised he should. I’m hoping like everyone else that he comes through because he’s an important part of our side.
“Looking at the bench, there’s the opportunity to use Josh in midfield and that’s something we’ll possibly look to do.”
Q: What have you made of Wyn Jones and how he’s responded to being dropped?
WP: “He’s worked very, very hard. I think that experience is going to be vital when you look at what is coming in terms of Taniela Tupou on the other side. He can be a very destructive tight-head on the other side so we need all the experience we can get and Wyn will bring it for us.”
Q: Have you been encouraged by his reaction?
WP: “Very much so. Wyn is like any player. They want to pull on the jer
sey and they want to play to the best of their ability. Wyn had the perfect storm, we’ve talked about that. But he’s focused and looking forward to it on the weekend.”
Q: What do you expect from a Dave Rennie team compared to the likes of New Zealand or South Africa?
WP: “It’ll be just as physical. That’s one thing any any Dave Rennie side is. If you look at Glasgow with Dave, Jonathan Humphreys was his forwards coach so we’ve got some insight. But also, players like Gareth Anscombe played for him at the Chiefs.
“Very competitive at the breakdown. A lot of edge to the forward play. We’ve expecting to have a very physical encounter.”
Q: Having dropped Jonathan Davies, was it important you retained a player of similar experience in Dan Biggar?
WP: “There’s a big difference between dropping and rotating. Jonathan (Davies) hasn’t been dropped, but we want to have a look at Willis and also Josh in midfield. So there’s no place for Jonathan because of what we wanted to look at that experiment with Josh in midfield. Not that it’s really an experiment as he’s been doing it in training. Hopefully that explains that.
“Everyone that has followed Dan knows that if he has a game that he’s not happy with, he generally has a very, very good response. We’re expecting Dan to have a good game on the weekend, he’s vastly experienced and we’re looking for that experience to start the game and marshal us around the pitch.
“He’s been in all the training sessions since he’s been back. Rhys had a niggly calf which ruled him out of selection for the South African game. We made sure that was right and didn’t risk him for the Fiji game.
“We wanted to reward him for his All Blacks performance which we felt was very good and have another look at him. We think we’ve got two 10s who will get us through the game nicely.”
Q: It’s nearly two years since your first game in charge of Wales. What are your thoughts on what you’ve learned in that time?
WP: “I’m over the hotel for a start like all the players and coaches dealing with the Covid situation. That’s a given. It’s been everything people have described, except on top of that, we’ve had this pandemic to deal with.
“There’s been a lot of things that you wouldn’t normally associate with a rugby team. That’s been a challenge and it’s been hard on everyone to make sure everyone is focused on the game.
“There’s so many distractions outside of camp with families and things. It’s no different for management either. It’s been a challenging time, I can honestly say that, but enjoyable as we get to do what we love doing.
“And that’s being in this environment, perhaps a bit more than we’d like! But certainly to be working in sport is a great opportunity for anyone.”
Q: It’s nearly two years since your first game in charge of Wales. What are your thoughts on what you’ve learned in that time?
WP: “It’s been everything people have described, except on top of that, we’ve had this pandemic to deal with.
“There’s been a lot of things that you wouldn’t normally associate with a rugby team. That’s been a challenge and it’s been hard on everyone to make sure everyone is focused on the game.
“There’s so many distractions outside of camp with families and things. It’s no different for management either. It’s been a challenging time, I can honestly say that, but enjoyable as we get to do what we love doing.
“And that’s being in this environment, perhaps a bit more than we’d like! But certainly to be working in sport is a great opportunity for anyone.”