Wayne Pivac remains adamant he will take Wales to the World Cup but the Welsh Rugby Union are lining up a sensational move to bring Warren Gatland back into the fold.
Pivac has only won three out of 12 Test matches this season and the pressure ratchetted up after Australia overturned a 21-point deficit to run out 39-34 winners at the Principality Stadium yesterday.
The Rugby Paper understands a sub committee of the main WRU board met in secret last week to discuss the coaching situation in the wake of the 13-12 defeat at home to Georgia last Saturday. It is believed Rob Howley and Scotland defence coach Steve Tandy were also mentioned as potential interim options but the WRU’s number one target is Gatland.
Pivac said: “I’m interested in talking about today and getting over what’s happened. I’m contracted through to the World Cup. It’s in France and we’re flying there tomorrow. I certainly want to stay. You saw today when we get things right we are a dangerous team. We have more players to come back into the side and the rest is up to other people.
“The heat was on me during the week. I had to try and take it off the boys and they played large parts of that game exactly as we wanted them to. We review every competition and we will do that and we have to take the positives out of the competition. Things that did not go well we can iron out.”
The hosts had built up a 34-13 lead but Australia wing Mark Nawaqanitawase sparked a comeback with two late tries. With the Wales defence at sixes and sevens a score from Lachlan Lonergan two minutes from time could have slammed the final nail into Pivac’s coffin.
Arguably the turning point came when Justin Tipuric was sent to the bin for tripping Pete Samu. The Wales captain says it was unintentional.
“As players, it’s difficult with the way the game was going. We could have scored a few more points and we backed that up with a couple of yellows,” said Tipuric. “But it was probably the most enjoyable rugby we’ve played for a while in that firsthalf, but it is an 80 minute game and for 60 minutes we looked outstanding.
“I was turning and he kicked my foot. Pete flew out of nowhere. As a back-rower, sometimes you do a bit of dirty work and deserve a yellow but that was one where it feels like things aren’t going your way.”
Wales begin their Six Nations campaign in February but it is unclear who will be at the helm but Pivac believes t shold be him. He said: “We won the competition (Six Nations) with a bit of luck going our way, and it feels at the moment, in tight situations, it hasn’t.
“We have to keep believing because we feel there was a marked improvement in our performance there. It’s one of those which is tough to take.”
