The Scrum
the times | Saturday November 14 2020 2GG 9
in the Wales squad were beginning to
lose their sparkle.
Seven of his starting line-up last
night are in their thirties.
Alun Wyn Jones is 35
and, on his 150th
international
appearance, remains a
towering presence and a
forceful leader. Jonathan
Davies was a star on each
of the past two British &
Irish Lions tours, but he
will be 33 by the time the
Lions visit South Africa
next summer. In the Aviva
Stadium last night, he
carried powerfully on
first-phase ball, earning a
penalty from which
Leigh Halfpenny kicked
his side’s first points.
Shortly afterwards, though,
Johnny Sexton threaded a kick
behind him that Davies failed to
gather, forcing Halfpenny to
concede a penalty as green-
shirted defenders swarmed
all over him. Halfpenny himself is 31,
as are Justin Tipuric and Dan Biggar,
Taulupe Faletau turned 30 on
Thursday. Each of these players has
been wonderful for Wales and cannot
be written off before their time, but
how many of them will be at the next
World Cup? Is there a danger too
many of them are growing old at
once?
“We’ve got a lot of players
who’ve come back from some
serious injuries that
probably aren’t at their
peak at the moment,”
Pivac said last night. “The
changes we’ve wanted to
make are taking time.”
It is a singular
managerial skill to
know not only how to
construct a strong
team, but how to
spot the signs of
wear and tear before
a radical rebuilding
process is required. This
was the quality that gave Sir
Alex Ferguson such longevity
at Manchester United, an
ability to recognise when one ofJonathan Davies, 32,
struggled at times
t w a p w A a ahis players, no matter how great their
past achievements, had begun to
outlive his usefulness. It happened
with Roy Keane, with Paul Ince,
David Beckham and Jaap Stam. There
were no sacred cows in Ferguson’s
sides.
Gatland himself (yes, him again)
recognised a moment to move on
decisively before the 2011 World Cup,
releasing the potential of a new
generation of players, the likes of Sam
Warburton, Dan Lydiate, Davies and
Faletau, who were pipped in the
World Cup semi-final by France.
Pivac does not have the same
number of players to choose from as,
say, Eddie Jones, when he was moving
on from the England old guard he
inherited, nor can he dip into the
transfer market to sign a replacement
player, as Ferguson could. He will
make a number of changes for the
game against Georgia next week,
when his struggling side should at
least be able to bring an end to that
woeful run of defeats. But he must be
wondering now whether he has
inherited a team who were past their
lofty peak as he tries desperately to
arrest the slide down the other side.whether to stick with ageing team
RAMSEY CARDY/SPORTSFILE
Roux stretches
to put the ball
over the line
and score
Ireland’s
opening tryFrance match off
after positive tests
for four Fiji players
Even before a ball had been kicked
the Autumn Nations Cup was being
undermined by coronavirus yesterday
as the game between France and Fiji
was cancelled after four further
positive tests for Fiji players.
The tournament schedule does not
allow time for the game, which was
due to be played in Vannes tomorrow,
to be rearranged. The organisers are
yet to determine whether the result
will be adjudged as a victory for
France or a draw, convening a
meeting on Monday to decide. The
fate of Fiji’s second scheduled game,
against Italy next Saturday, will also
be discussed. The full Fiji squad are
understood to be isolating.
In twice-weekly testing sessions
at Fiji’s training base in Limoges,
three positive cases were recorded a
fortnight ago, forcing their warm-up
match against Portugal to be
cancelled. Four more positive cases
emerged yesterday in the latest
round of testing, with an unspecified
number of close contacts also
affected, meaning Fiji were unable
to raise a team.
“This was a difficult and
disappointing decision, but it was the
only possible outcome following
today’s test results,” Ben Morel, the
chief executive of Six Nations Rugby,
the tournament organisers, said.
“The welfare of our players and
their support teams remain our
No 1 priority. We have a rigorous
testing programme in place. In this
instance, it is impossible for theFijians to field a competitive team
and we have no other option but to
cancel this match.”
Vern Cotter, the Fiji head coach,
had already named a side to take
on France, but Fabien Galthié, his
opposite number, cancelled his team
announcement press conference
when it became likely that the game
would be called off.
Galthié is bound by an agreement
with Top 14 clubs that each player
can be used in only three of France’s
six matches, but the squad are now
expected to be released back to their
clubs this weekend.
A squad of 31 had been named
by Galthié for the game away to
Scotland a week tomorrow, largely
comprising second-string players, but
it remains to be seen whether the
France head coach’s plans for that
fixture are affected by the
cancellation of the Fiji game.
The problems of an outbreak
of coronavirus in a rugby squad
became clear towards the end of
the recently concluded Gallagher
Premiership season, when Sale
Sharks’ final regular-season game
was postponed and then cancelled
because of a number of positive tests
among staff and players.
Wasps’ participation in the
Premiership final against Exeter
Chiefs was then placed in doubt by an
outbreak at their training base. They
were able to raise a match-day squad
but were denied the services of four
front-line forwards — Brad Shields,
Kieran Brookes, Simon McIntyre and
Alfie Barbeary — who had been ruled
out due to contact-tracing protocols.JOHN WESTERBYMurphy is latest casualty of
failed Leicester experiment
Geordan Murphy yesterday became
the latest victim of the turmoil at
Leicester Tigers when he left his post
as director of rugby. He is the fourth
director of rugby or head coach to
leave the club in less than four years.
Murphy, 42, had been at Welford
Road for 23 years and, as a player,
he was eight times a Premiership
champion and twice a Heineken Cup
winner. In the past four years the club
have sacked Richard Cockerill, Aaron
Mauger and Matt O’Connor from the
top position. O’Connor was sacked
two years ago, one game into the new
season; the timing is not much better
this time around, with Murphy going
only one week before the new
campaign starts.
A Leicester statement said that
Murphy and the club had agreed “by
mutual consent” that he would leave
immediately. It also said that the
decision had been reached after
Murphy had been informed that his
contract would not be renewed upon
its conclusion next summer.
During the club’s struggles over
recent seasons Leicester have tried
to reinvent their leadership model a
number of times and, two years ago,
eventually decided on another major
reset by placing their faith in Murphy,who was inexperienced as a coach.
The club hoped that, with his
popularity and understanding of the
culture, he could grow and learn the
job of director of rugby on the go.
This is the latest experiment that
has failed. Another tweak to the
set-up had come in the summer when
Steve Borthwick joined as head
coach. The Murphy-Borthwick ticket
did not work and now the latter is
very much the No 1 man. The recent
disharmony at Leicester has been
clear because, in the past month, the
scrum coach Boris Stankovich and
Rob Taylor, the attack coach, left the
club. On Thursday Rory Underwood
stood down as non-executive director.
Tigers will not be recruiting a
replacement for Murphy, however
the club are looking to fill “a position
in the organisation charged with
overseeing the strategic vision and
off-field responsibilities”. Peter Tom,
the club chairman, said that Murphy’s
contribution to the club was
“unrivalled in the professional era”.
Murphy said: “Winning has been
the easy part. It is when things are
not going well, when you are losing
and having to get back up every day
and put on a brave face, that you
know who your friends are and, to all
of those who supported me through
those times, those are the friends
I will have for life.”OWEN SLOT