Is it time to to rescue us Ask Gatland once again?
IN an era of passive WRU governance, there will be no great expectation of Wayne Pivac being dismissed this week.
The last time Wales shoehorned so many shambolic performances into a calendar year Gareth Jenkins was sacked in the car park of a French hotel the morning after the whole sorry process reached its nadir with World Cup pool defeat to Fiji.
Whether Pivac took a stroll through the grounds of the Vale Resort on Sunday morning is unknown. If he was handed his P45 outside the leisure suite, news has yet to break.
While the current say-nothing culture among his paymasters is likely to mean a stay of execution, for the union to not even consider an immediate change behind closed doors would be a dereliction of duty, in my opinion.
You know what I’d do? Ask Warren Gatland if he’d be prepared to take Wales to next year’s World Cup as interim coach and use that time to arrive at a longer-term appointment post-autumn 2023.
Gatland, in the UK working for Amazon Prime, is contracted to the Chiefs back in his homeland.
Could he be seduced by the opportunity of another shot at a World Cup? Possibly not? Then again, who knows?
He’s not going to get anything bigger profile before the next four-year cycle, when coaches in the highest echelon hope to cherrypick the best jobs in the game.
Gatland would command instant dressing room respect with Wales and instil organisation and confidence into a group of talented players who, under Pivac, have not added up to the sum of their parts on anything like a consistent enough basis.
Give Gatland a simple brief: sort us out, make us competitive in the Six Nations, then prepare us as expertly as you always have for the global gathering in France next year.
Having done such a long stint in Wales, the temporary nature of such a return may well carry manifestly more appeal to the former Lions boss. While Gatland holds the fort, the WRU should be speaking to those they see as fit to take Wales towards the World Cup of 2027.
Already Scott Robertson is being touted as the prime option. The former All Black flanker has the Super Rugby track record and has made no secret of his desire to step up into international rugby.
Robertson appears to have the personality for a job as demanding as Wales boss. He ticks a lot of boxes as someone with the tactical astuteness and gravitas to build something of real substance in a new environment.
Other possibilities? None are obvious, but if you look hard enough they are there.
Left-field this may be, but what about
Ronan O’gara?
The Irishman is a deeply impressive character who is expected to go right to the top of the coaching ladder. He’s won the European Cup with La Rochelle and maybe January 2024, after the World Cup, will be the right time for him to take the next step?
O’gara (circled, left) has shown his willingness to cut his coaching teeth out of the Irish comfort zone and nationality has long since ceased being a barrier to coaching appointments.
The one question mark would be his lack of experience as a number one in the international game, but O’gara appears to have the studiousness and intelligence to make light of that.
There is, of course, Dai Young. He was said to be a frontrunner before the then WRU powerbrokers Martyn Phillips and Gareth Davies took the easy option of giving the job to Pivac on the back of one Scarlets PRO12 triumph.
Which other top-tier international sides would have appointed Pivac, some might ask? Could Phillips and Davies not have been more ambitious?
As for Young, he has a 20-year track record in Wales and England – and was probably appreciated more for his work through some extremely tough times at Wasps than he has been for his work with Cardiff, where he is now back in charge.
Young would take the job tomorrow, and Cardiff wouldn’t stand in his way. To dismiss his credentials now is to do so for good.
So who else? Well, you could make a case for someone like Rob Baxter, who has achieved so much with Exeter by building a culture rather than relying on the sort of household names boasted by their rivals.
There are Kiwi old-stagers like Chris Boyd and Wayne Smith. They are in their mid-60s so may be considered a bit long in the tooth, but they could be interim options if Gatland doesn’t fancy the hassle.
Smith has just guided the New Zealand women’s team to a World Cup triumph. He could be looking for something fresh, but may consider the Welsh hot-seat as potentially too hazardous.
Boyd left Northampton at the end of last season and would presumably be available if the call from Wales came. Would he have the energy? Only he could answer that.
The odds on any upheaval remain long, and calls for the heads of coaches to roll are nothing new in Wales.
Nevertheless, after defeat to Georgia, which followed an embarrassing first Wales home loss to Italy, you got the distinct impression Pivac has crossed a line. The subsequent reaction is not of the knee-jerk variety either.
Wales have had a dismal year, bookended by annihilation in Dublin and an historical nadir against Georgia. Who knows what the denouement against Australia has in store, when Wales will be shorn of their Englandbased players.
The common thread throughout it has been Pivac’s failure to consistently get the best out of what he has at his disposal. There is some major talent in this Welsh team, but the sum of the parts is not working.
And, sadly, there is no real reason – or evidence – to make us believe that is going to change.
On three separate occasions this year – against Ireland, Italy and Georgia – Wales have suffered unacceptable defeats.
In between there has been very little to get the pulse racing, with even the first win on South African soil coming with the caveat of a demeaning Springbok selection.
They have lost eight out of 11 matches in 2022. Georgia was as bad as it gets, completely unacceptable. Wales were played off the park.
Pivac has been at the helm for three years, but it feels like Wales are getting worse, not better. Many struggle to detect what they’re actually building, be that a team, or a consistent style of play.
Where is the strategy and sense of direction?
The key here is how many people really think things will improve? If the WRU believe that then fine, stick with Pivac.
If they don’t, this is the last realistic chance to make a change ahead of the World Cup, give a new man the chance to put his stamp on the side in the Six Nations and during the tournament build-up.
It’s my belief the time has come for someone else to steer this ship.
I’d be picking up the phone to Gatland. And then arranging a meeting with O’gara.