The Scrum
8 2GG Saturday November 14 2020 | the times
After looking on for five years from
his previous job in Llanelli, Wayne
Pivac was under no illusions he had a
tough act to follow in taking on the
Wales head coach’s role performed so
capably by Warren Gatland for more
than a decade. In Gatland’s final year
in charge, the twin achievements of a
third grand slam and reaching the
World Cup semi-final represented
rousing send-offs for the New
Zealander and his coaches, but they
are also casting a long shadow over
Pivac’s first few months in the job.
Seven games into his tenure, the
heavy loss to Ireland last night was a
sixth consecutive defeat and the task
of following in Gatland’s footsteps
looks tougher than ever. Living up to
the standards set as defence coach byPivac needs to decide
Shaun Edwards has already proved
too much for his replacement, Byron
Hayward, who was shown the door by
Pivac earlier this week. There may
have been small improvements in his
side’s defence last night, but there
were few other crumbs of comfort.
It is easy to say, as Pivac’s growing
army critics have been doing, that this
dramatic nosedive in results has come
about with largely the same group of
players who won the grand slam and
came so close to reaching the World
Cup final in Japan. Hadleigh Parkes
has moved on, while Ken Owens and
Ross Moriarty are injured at present,
but otherwise little has changed in
terms of the personnel on the field.
More than a year has passed now,
though, since the World Cup and 20
months since the grand slam was
clinched with a victory over Ireland
at the Principality Stadium. The game
has evolved in that time and Wales’s
players are not getting any younger.
The greatest question facing Pivac
now is not so much the effect that the
departures of Gatland, Edwards et al
have had on the squad. It is whether
Pivac came into the job at a time
when a number of the shining lightsCoach is still putting
his trust in giants of
old era, but new blood
may be needed, writes
John Westerby
wild pass, but still desperate to turn
things around.
They used the rather blunt
instrument of Biggar’s bombs but
twice Hugo Keenan was caught in
possession and on the second
occasion, Halfpenny kicked the
penalty.
Ireland needed to respond and they
were inspired by Doris, first by his
block on Gareth Davies, then by his
clever flip back to Cian Healy, who
just failed to ground the ball.
Sustained pressure eventually
brought a second penalty for Burns.
Now chasing the game, Wales
began to achieve passages of
continuity, and finally got Josh Adams
into the game. But when they earned
the penalty, Halfpenny, surprisingly,
was off-target.
The defensive grind of the first half
soon began to show and the end-
game was spent deep in Welsh
territory, with Murray landing a
couple of penalties and then Lowe
popping up, yet again, to have the
final say.
Sexton added: “Delighted for James
to get the score at the end. I am very
happy for the whole squad. When you
have been questioned as we have over
the last couple of weeks it shows
character to bounce back and it shows
what type of people we are. We are
very proud to play for this country.”Scorers: Ireland: Tries Roux (22min), Lowe
(80min). Cons Sexton, Murray. Pens Sexton 2 (9,
27) Burns 2 (35, 53) Murray 2 (66, 71).
Wales: Pens Biggar (16), Halfpenny 2 (30, 49).
Scoring sequence (Ireland first): 3-0, 3-3, 10-3,
13-3, 13-6, 16-6 (half-time), 16-9, 19-9, 22-9, 25-9,
32-9.
Ireland H Keenan; A Conway, C Farrell, R
Henshaw (K Earls 70), J Lowe; J Sexton (B Burns
28, C Murray 64), J Gibson-Park; C Healy (E Byrne
59), R Kelleher (D Heffernan 64), A Porter (F
Bealham 64), Q Roux (T Beirne 64), J Ryan, P
O’Mahony, J van der Flier (W Connors 69), C
Doris.
Wales L Halfpenny; Li Williams, J Davies (G North
59), O Watkin, J Adams; D Biggar (C Sheedy 66),
G Davies (Llo Williams 53); R Carre (W Jones 39),
R Elias (E Dee 51), T Francis (S Lee 51), W
Rowlands (J Ball 51), A W Jones, S Lewis-Hughes,
J Tipuric, T Faletau (A Wainwright 70).Lowe’s impressive
debut piles more
pressure on Wales
The Autumn Nations Cup may be an
artificial concept but the intent of
both teams here was very real. It
made for a contest full of bite — not
always of the highest quality but
played at a breakneck pace. No
wonder Ireland were happy to remain
at arm’s length during the final ten
minutes, asking Conor Murray to kick
the penalties that made victory
absolutely secure.
That Murray was place-kicking by
then was down to the fact that
Ireland had lost both their fly halves.
Johnny Sexton tweaked a hamstring
in the 28th minute, while his
replacement, the debutant Billy
Burns, required an HIA in the final
quarter.
The fact that Ireland were able to
survive more than half the game
without Sexton illustrated their
general superiority over a Welsh side
full of experience but dreadfully short
on confidence.
It seems unlikely that Sexton will
have recovered in time for
Twickenham next Saturday — a far
trickier assignment. Last night, the
Ireland captain put a brave face on it.
“I was enjoying it out there but the
most important thing is that the team
won and we are very pleased to
bounce back,” Sexton said. “Wales are
in a difficult phase but to turn up the
way we did [was pleasing]. We could
still be a bit more clinical and take a
few more opportunities than we did.”
Ireland had the edge on Wales in
the tight five and they had game-
changers in Jamison Gibson-Park and
especially debutant James Lowe, who
brings a buzz to proceedings whether
or not there is a crowd in attendance.
How appropriate that he should score
with the final act of the game.
Wales began like a team
that had decided to take
an old-fashioned
approach to changing
their fortune: by
bringing aggression
and niggle, on and off
the ball, with Alun
Wyn Jones leading the
charge. Unfortunately
they brought little by way
of constructive rugby and
were fortunate to be just ten
points behind at the break.
By contrast, Ireland played at a
lively lick, with Gibson-Park setting
the tempo. Here, he was the fulcrum
of those well-worn wrap-around
moves, zipping return passes left and
right and prompting his runners
intelligently.
Sexton appeared keen to involve
Lowe as often as possible, to the
extent that he spoilt a lovely starter
play by throwing a hopeful pass
meant for Lowe, when a simple pass
to Robbie Henshaw was the wiser
option.
That scrum dominance allowed
Sexton to kick Ireland in front but
they wasted a great attacking
opportunity when James Ryan was
turned over on the line. To compound
this, Henshaw conceded a soft
penalty for not releasing and Leigh
Halfpenny did the necessary. Despite
spending most of the first quarter in
their own half, Wales were level.
Ireland soon got reward for their
general dominance, though, and
fittingly, Lowe and Gibson-Park had a
lot to do with setting things up.
Off a lineout on the left, Gibson-
Park arced infield but then wrong-
footed the defence with a reverse-pass
for his wing. Typically, he bounced off
Liam Williams’s attempted tackle and
presented quick ball metres short of
the tryline, only for Henshaw to spill
the pass.
Mathieu Raynal, the referee,
brought Wales back for offside and
Sexton opted to take the scrum
— a clear statement of intent.
His pack failed to produce
clean attacking ball but
they soon made up for it
with a bout of pick-and-
go. Caelan Doris made
one big carry and then
Quinn Roux scored on
the follow-up — his
reward for a lively
performance.
Sexton converted and then
forced another penalty opportunity
with a clever grubber that Jonathan
Davies failed to clean up. Halfpenny
held on in the tackle and Sexton
kicked Ireland’s lead to ten points.
Given that he rarely kicks for
Ulster, Burns was fortunate that his
first shot was from under the Welsh
posts. Halfpenny’s second penalty
meant his team were still in touch.
Remarkably they had made nearly
five times as many tackles as Ireland
in the first 40 minutes. They still
relaunched themselves into the
second period — still short of
accuracy, as shown by Justin Tipuric’s6
Defeats in a row for Wales —
their longest losing run
since eight games from
June 2012 until
February
2013.IRELAND
Peter O’Reilly
Aviva Stadium
WALES
32
9
Adams tussles with Gibson-Park as O’Mahony dives on the ball before half-timeBRIAN LAWLESS/PA