A former Wales captain has called for a post-Autumn Nations Cup review to ask the question of whether Wayne Pivac is the right man to be coaching the national team.
Michael Owen led Wales to the Grand Slam in 2005, their first clean sweep in 27 years.
There followed four more Six Nations titles under Warren Gatland, including three Grand Slams, but Wales finished fifth in the 2020 championship, a year after reaching a World Cup semi-final.
Owen reckons certain standards have collapsed and says if it’s found Pivac is the wrong fit to take Wales forward, taking into account the ‘team vibe’, there needs to be quick and decisive action.
“I believe we need to stop the rot and start to rebuild from the bottom up,” he told the Planet Rugby website.
“Wales always have to sweat every asset we have and that’s a given, but this isn’t all about results, it’s about measuring the intangible environment, too. Have we got the right man to lead the team? Are we picking the right players? Can we improve the support and environment of the team?
“These are massive questions that require thought and the balls to make the big decisions, as we did during the Mike Ruddock era, fast actions that were a testimony to Mike’s management skills.
"The team vibe is the thing that will really inform the WRU when they examine the last year and I feel, at the conclusion of the Autumn Nations Cup, we need to ask ourselves whether Pivac is the right man for this role, and, if the answer is no, we need to be brutal in making the right call, quickly and painlessly.”
The man who took over the Wales armband because of an injury to Gareth Thomas halfway through the unforgettable Slam campaign of 15 years ago noted that when Gatland came in, the success that followed came as a result of a focus on the basics, such as scrum, line-out, defence, exit strategy and gain-line collisions, with extras building on those.
But over the past year Wales hadn’t hit the right levels under the structure he'd mentioned, with the ex-back rower saying: “Post-lockdown, and perhaps a couple of times before that, we’ve seen those standards absolutely collapse.”
He also expressed concern about rumours of an unhappy camp.
His comments will carry weight as a respected ex-Wales captain.
Pivac could argue that he’s still only a year into the job and no member of his squad has gone public with claims of discontent within the set-up.
Ultimately, however, coaches are judged on results and six defeats from seven games in 2020 isn’t a great record.
The Welsh Rugby Union will doubtless ask themselves would there have been a degree of post-World Cup and post-Gatland upheaval whoever had been coaching Wales.
The answer to that question will almost certainly be ‘yes’, but, for Owen, the key is whether the union believe Pivac is the long-term means of turning the situation around, taking into account such matters as culture, basics, enjoyment and team vibe.
The ex-Wales skipper added: “It’s a pretty worrying time but all I ask is that, if we’re to make big decisions, let’s do so sooner rather than later, for the sake of all concerned and for the health of Welsh rugby.”
