The lowdown on Pivac’s picks and the player who can solve a big issue...
THERE were points under certain Wales coaches back in the day when selection announcements seemed akin to rearranging deckchairs on the Titanic.
Whatever the fresh arrangements, the ship would still head down, maybe with the band playing on.
We are nowhere near that stage this early in Wayne Pivac’s time in charge.
The New Zealander is still trying to achieve the right blend and he hasn’t been helped by injuries which have robbed him of important players.
But the campaign has been a tough one and he finishes it with four more changes to his starting XV for the game with Scotland. We look at the headline calls...
WEBB’S REWARD
HE didn’t quite attract the attention of the Monopolies Commission, but it’s fair to say Gareth Edwards kept a tight hold on the Wales No.9 jersey during his time as a player.
There were 53 consecutive starts for his country.
Over 11 years. Outstanding No. 9s like Chico Hopkins and Clive Shell didn’t get a start during that period. Hopkins gave up the waiting game at the age of 26 to pursue a career in rugby league. Edwards went on for another six years. Whatever the colourful character that is Hopkins thinks about it, there was certainty in selection.
Contrast that with the Wales scrum-half situation today.
Rhys Webb becomes the third different starter over the past three games.
Gareth Davies held the shirt against France, then it reverted to Tomos Williams and now it’s Webb’s turn to have a go.
That Williams has a lot of talent isn’t in doubt. But he missed tackles against Ireland and England which led to opposition tries. He finds himself dropped from the matchday squad, with the challenge being to improve his defence. Webb will just want to play to potential as he heads into his first run-on role at Test level since the game with New Zealand in November 2017.
He has earned his return to favour. Mind you, it’s been a long haul.
Indeed, there were times during his stint at Toulon when he could have been forgiven for doubting he’d start for Wales again, but he refused to give up hope. “The hunger to get back in the Welsh jersey never left my belly,” he said recently.
And his performance off the bench against England underlined he could still cut it at this level, with the Test Lion from 2017 looking a general in the 35 minutes he spent on the field. There were 55 passes, most of them flicked out crisply; there was a 40-metre break; and a try-assist out of the back of the hand.
More than anything, there was authority.
Now Pivac has given him the chance to prove he can once again dictate from the first whistle.
The certainty is he’ll relish the opportunity.
HILL CLIMBING ONCE MORE
LIKE Webb, Cory Hill has been absent as a Test starter for longer than he would have wanted.
In his case, it’s been down to a nightmare run of injuries, starting with the ankle knock he picked up against England 13 months ago and continuing with the stress fracture of the leg which saw him return from the World Cup without playing a game.
The Dragons lock also sustained a hamstring problem early in this Six Nations.
But he’s restored to fitness and goes straight into the starting line-up.
Pivac sees in Hill the qualities Warren Gatland valued so much, namely that he’s a leader who takes responsibility and rarely fails to front up.
Wales will need those characteristics against a Scotland pack who’ve been performing strongly.
The last time Hill began a Test, against England in last year’s Six Nations, he was outstanding.
A chance has opened up for him as Jake Ball picked up a shoulder injury last weekend.
THE NEWCOMER
WALES haven’t exactly rushed to award WillGriff John a debut cap, with the Sale Sharks player having previously failed to feature in a matchday squad in this Six Nations.
But there’s an old rugby adage that suggests if you haven’t got a scrum you haven’t got a chance, and Wales have found the pushing and shoving game hard work over the past six weeks, conceding eight penalties in that area.
Dillon Lewis also picked up an ankle knock against England.
So it’s over to John. There were whispers earlier in the campaign about whether he’s fit enough for Test rugby, but what is absolutely not in doubt is whether he’s strong enough.
“He’s a massive and a strong scrummager but he’s a lot more than that,” Sale director of rugby Steve Diamond is on record as saying.
“Defensively, he’s in double figures every game. Without doubt, he has the potential to play international rugby.”
Reportedly, John can bench-press 210kg.
Now, there is a lot more to scrummaging than being able throw around weights, but having such raw strength is a start, and a pretty decent one at that.
Scotland have been solid in the scrums, with their loosehead Rory Sutherland a mainstay.
It will be a test, then, for John, but one he’s waited patiently for. Come through it and a major problem for Wales will be solved. WYN, WYN...
PIVAC has changed his props after the scrummaging issues in London. Back comes Wyn Jones. It’s been a strange one, mind.
The Scarlet returned from the World Cup as an unqualified success, with his discipline to the fore in the games with Australia, Fiji, Uruguay, France and South Africa, during which he didn’t concede a single penalty.
The Springboks destroyed England’s front row in the final, but they found Wales a tougher nut to crack, with Jones and Tomas Francis performing strongly either side of Ken Owens.
But the loss of Francis for the Six Nations has hurt Wales and their scrum in particular.
Jones returns for Rob Evans this weekend and it will be interesting to see how he goes.
Warren Gatland used to rate him as technically the best loosehead Wales had and he always works hard around the field, contesting the breakdown.
If he fires, it will be a major boost for Pivac.
FALETAU OUT AGAIN
TAULUPE Faletau was benched for the England game after playing for his club Bath the previous weekend and picking up a bump.
The question was might he come back as a starter for the match with the Scots. He hasn’t.
Ross Moriarty had a strong game against France, offering Wales a physical dimension and keeping going from gun to tape. On the day, maybe he was the best Welsh player.
If he found it hard to make the same impact against England, it wasn’t through lack of effort and the Welsh back row performed well as a unit, with Faletau adding to the cause as a replacement and Justin Tipuric and Josh Navidi off the scale in terms of excellence.
Pivac has four top-quality players in that area and however they are permed he knows he’ll get performances.
NO REES-ZAMMIT
IT would have been a popular call, but Wales are on a run of three straight losses and Pivac evidently believes experience is the best way to snap such a sequence. Louis Rees-Zammit will just have to bide his time.
His ability to make clean breaks and score tries is not in doubt.
But Wales need a win to pick up some much-needed ranking points ahead of the World Cup and with three Test Lions at his disposal in the back three Pivac has resisted any temptation to blood the 19-year-old.
He’s a player who’s set to play a lot of rugby for Wales.
But just not yet.