IN THE DRAGON’S DEN
Wayne Pivac is under pressure as Wales coach and the shadow of his fellow Kiwi and predecessor looms
WAYNE PIVAC isn’t much of a trash talker. That is one obvious point of difference between him and the man he succeeded as head coach of Wales.
Warren Gatland loved it, despite the fact that he wasn’t very accomplished at it. He liked to start a row but if it didn’t end in his favour, he was liable to sulk and blame the media for misinterpreting him.
How the Welsh fans would love to hear his clunky mindgames now.
Instead, they are led by the quieter Pivac. He is a New Zealander, like his predecessor, and the pair share another similarity. Gatland was given a second shot at Test rugby by Wales thanks to his outstanding club record with Wasps (and despite the bitter end to his time coaching Ireland). Pivac got one of the most pressurised jobs in world rugby after an excellent half-decade in charge of the Scarlets. This it where their paths diverge.
In his first year in charge of Wales in 2008, Gatland landed a Grand Slam. Last year was Pivac’s first, and he had a rotten time of it. Wales played 10 games and won only three of them. The wins came against Italy, twice, and Georgia.
They have been desperate at times. Irish fans got a close-up look when they came to Dublin on a Friday night in the Autumn Nations Cup and lost 32-9.
It was an abject effort, redolent of the often calamitous performances by Welsh sides in the first decade of professionalism.
After that defeat, calls to sack Pivac multiplied. Doubts about him had already been spreading during the interrupted Six Nations last spring.
Wales lost narrowly at home to an exciting French side, lost a thriller in Twickenham 33-30, but also lost by 10 points in the Aviva Stadium.
Most damagingly, they were defeated in the Principality Stadium by Scotland.
Were they to lose to Ireland at the same ground next Sunday, there is a possibility Pivac could lose his job with four matches still to play.
This might sound outlandish, but Wales is an extremely demanding environment in which to be involved in professional rugby.
It is the country’s national sport, an enduring passion, and any match in which Wales lose — no matter the opponent, even the All Blacks — prompts an extended interrogation and usually criticism, too.
It often rankled with Gatland. It drove some of those who came before him mad, too, with Graham Henry and Steve Hansen exasperated by the tireless attention paid to every aspect of their jobs. None handled it as well as Gatland, though — and that is where his mind-games come in.
He said some controversial and occasionally plainly stupid things, but this was usually done to draw attention from somewhere else, be that the pressure on his team before a big match, or a focus on a particular player.
In the space of 12 months, he famously criticised his Irish opposite numbers.
In March 2008, Gatland returned to Ireland for the first time as a Test coach since his sacking by the IRFU six years earlier.
Ireland were led by Eddie O’Sullivan, Gatland’s assistant until the latter was fired, at which point O’Sullivan stepped up.
It is reasonable to conclude there were trust issues between the two. Ireland were playing in Croke Park in 2008 as Lansdowne Road was redeveloped, and O’Sullivan was struggling badly in the aftermath of the disastrous 2007 World Cup.
The Welsh match would be his penultimate game as coach of his country. Ireland were weak and vulnerable before the game, while Wales were on course for the Grand Slam in what was Gatland’s first year in charge.
In an interview with the BBC before the game, Gatland implied that O’Sullivan had not been loyal to him when the two worked together. ‘On reflection, what I didn’t have was the undying loyalty you might expect from people within your coaching setup,’ he said.
O’Sullivan didn’t react, but he suffered on the day as Wales edged a tight game by four points.
In the aftermath, Gatland sulked and implied his words had been misconstrued.