The comedian Tim Vine tells a joke about how he was getting into a car when another bloke called over.
“‘Can you give me a lift?’” the man said.
“I said: ‘Sure, you look great, the world’s your oyster, go for it.’”
It’s doubtless the way he tells ’em.
Anyway, Wayne Pivac would take any positivity on offer right now, even if it meant he had to walk everywhere for the next month.
But optimism over Wales’ chances in the Six Nations isn’t coming from all quarters.
Every one of a five-strong panel of MailOnline experts brought together to preview the Six Nations tipped Pivac’s team for a fifth-place finish.
And now, from across the Irish Sea, The42 website has done little to elevate Pivac’s spirits.
In a piece headlined ‘Know Your Enemy: the lowdown on Ireland’s Six Nations opponents', the writer Garry Doyle doesn’t exactly advise Wales’ head coach to put the champagne on ice over the coming weeks and months.
In fact, he suggests an ‘horrific’ campaign can be predicted, one which Wales will head into with no hope.
“Here is a stat,” he writes. “In the final game of last season’s Six Nations championship, Wales had over 1,000 caps on the pitch but by the time they rock up in the Aviva Stadium next Saturday, 680 of those will be missing.
“In other words, no Alun Wyn Jones, Ken Owens, Justin Tipuric, Josh Navidi, Taulupe Faletau or George North really translates into no hope for the Welsh, especially when you add in the additional absentees, Leigh Halfpenny, Dan Lydiate, Jonny Williams (all injured), Cory Hill — now in Japan — and Jake Ball — now in Australia.
“Take seven British and Irish Lions out of the Ireland squad and you know it’ll hurt. In Wales – where the production line is not as slick – the pain is greater. A decade has passed since they last won a Six Nations game in Dublin and you can’t see that record improving in six days-time.
“You can predict a horrific campaign, possibly one where they end up with just a win over Italy, although their home record against the Scots and France is strong.”
He says public opinion remains undecided on Pivac, even though the New Zealander led Wales to the Six Nations title last season. Pivac’s appointment as successor to Warren Gatland, we are told, was significantly based on the entertaining brand of rugby the Scarlets played under him between 2016 and 2018.
That wouldn’t be far from the truth.
But there’s a sting: “Pivac’s Wales have been as dull as the Gatland version but not as effective. A miserable spring awaits.”
Writing for The Sunday Times, former Ireland lock Neil Francis has challenged Ireland to produce against Wales in Dublin on Saturday the game he reckons was key to their stunning success over New Zealand in November.
He sees a game based on crisp and accurate passing as the next move forward in modern rugby.
And he doesn't appear optimistic about Wales' prospects this weekend.
"The Welsh come with a team shorn of quality and some lamentable form at club level. We should have moved on from flopping to our favourite party-poopers at the most inopportune moment.
"Or maybe we should look at catching up with the French only when the Welsh have been dispatched . . . with the new game."
With a virtual regiment of big-name players missing through injuries, it is hard to see Wales confounding the odds over the season.
But at least they won’t head into the championship burdened by expectations.
Far from it.
Want the latest Welsh rugby news sent straight to you? Look no further.
