Wales dropping to eighth in the Rugby union world rankings, now below Scotland, is the cherry on top of a rather dismal cake as the national side closed off the latest Six Nations tournament with a dreary 14-10 defeat to the Scots in Saturday’s final game in Llanelli – now their fifth consecutive defeat under manager Wayne Pivac’s side.
With four Championship games and October’s 38-21 drubbing to the French team in a preliminary warm-up match, this marks an unwanted thirteen-year precedent – the Welsh team haven’t gone on to lose four games in a Six Nations competition since 2007. This year’s performance was in stark contrast to their Grand Slam status in 2019, defeating every other team in the competition.
The results in the World Cup in Japan were, though not quite as successful, still commendable – they were only defeated in the quarter-finals by eventual winners South Africa, managing to defeat the mercurial French side in the quarters. With the Autumn Nations Cup, Wales will be hoping to bounce back swiftly. Since Warren Gatland‘s departure, it’s been a far cry from sunshine daisies and Grand Slams – so what’s going so wrong?
Technical Issues
Wayne Pivac is a new manager, and new managers can often suffer or enjoy fluctuations in performance – it’s a common theme across many sports. However, it doesn’t excuse a run of form so poor it hasn’t been seen in over a decade. Wales’ dip certainly doesn’t appear to be something the team are immediately worried about. Pivac’s appointment has been described as part of a ‘long-term vision.’ It’s a fair point. Wales have already confirmed top-four seedings in the 2023 World Cup in France, and victory there would mean more than a Six Nations trophy.
Talent in Abundance
The Welsh team was beaten by Ireland, England, France and Scotland at the Six Nations. All the games exhibited different aspects of their shortcomings. On paper, you’d be surprised to hear that. Winger Josh Adams scored three tries and stood out as a promising talent, filled with instinctive finishing, consistently high stamina and work-rate. He was well deserving of his tournament XV spot, despite Wales falling short as a team. Openside flanker Justin Tipuric was another.
Standing out in all the games he featured in, Tipuric and Adams are both in with strong shouts for Lions call-ups and will be guaranteed spots in the Welsh World Cup squad in a few years’ time, so long as their domestic performances hold up. A fortunate ruling has handed Wales their top seeding in the World Cup – deriving rankings from January of this year, rather than the tail-end of the season. However, by expert standards, they aren’t seen as massively off the pace, currently boasting 14/1 odds to win the 2023 World Cup according to latest figures in the rugby union betting. New Zealand’s All Blacks are at 17/10 and the English are currently at 7/2.
Perhaps fortunately for Pivac, the Autumn Nations Cup match-up against Ireland is only a few weeks away on the 13th of November. Nothing can put bad performances behind a team like a chance to reset the clock and try again. With games against Ireland and England lined up, the Welsh are likely not dwelling on their disappointing Six Nations. It’s difficult to think about games long since finished when you’ve got a World Cup to look forward to.
