Loose Pass: Contrasting fortunes, a blow and a great feat

This week we will mostly be concerning ourselves with suitable pragmatism, big dreams, the cutting of foundations and a word of congratulation…

Aiming too high?

Wayne Pivac was chosen, it was said, on the back of his attacking vision and his sound knowledge of the Welsh game after his singularly successful time at the Scarlets. Five games in, and things are not going well.

Wales lost the contest on every level against Scotland on Saturday. They were turned over multiple times, made unforced handling errors, often failed to find the gain line and rarely looked like breaking. The score was close, but the wind was a great leveller. It was a perfect chance for the team to re-assert their rugby authority, but it just never looked likely.

Perhaps the most damning aspect was the appearance of disorganisation and miscommunication though. Rarely did the players look as though they were on the same page for more than a couple of phases, while the final desperate minutes with the ball moving from side to side almost as fast as it went backwards were revealing.

There were times in the spring, when all was well and crowds were thronging and cheering, when although results were not going the right way, there did at least seem to be evidence of what it was Pivac and co wanted to change and achieve. It was more daring, it was moving the ball faster from ten and around the pitch, it was about asking more questions and letting the players play, back themselves and each other.

?????????????? Scotland spoiled Alun Wyn Jones’ big day in Llanelli. #WALvSCO

?️ Catch the highlights from the #GuinnessSixNations clash. ? https://t.co/hfBqql7ztp

— Planet Rugby (@PlanetRugby) October 31, 2020

Change was never going to happen overnight, not when the successes of the prior decade had been so founded on pragmatism and emphasis on strategic and tactical accuracy. Also not when so many of those players from said decade were now being asked to change so quickly and under such extraordinary conditions.

Has Pivac tried to change too much too soon? Or has he aimed high for an expansive game-plan and fallen foul of the current strangling tightness that is international rugby? Or is there a need to roll over the generation of players? Or has the coronavirus disruption come at the worst moment for Pivac’s planned process?

The most likely story is a mix of all four, but Wales badly need to reset a bit, to get tight grips on a couple of games before heading into a November that will not relent, with games against Ireland and England. Ugly defeats there are virtual guarantees if the team is as disjointed as it was Saturday and questions will be asked of the direction in which Wales are headed.

How high can they aim?

The award of the 2023 World Cup to France caused consternation among many, but there cannot be any doubt now that the burgeoning French team is a long shot to win it. As one of our writers so…