Former Welsh Rugby Union chairman Gareth Davies believes Wayne Pivac got his selection "miserably wrong" ahead of the defeat to Italy as he called for major changes to Welsh rugby.
Davies, who appointed Pivac as Warren Gatland's successor back in 2018, admitted that he had been worried about the Six Nations match with Italy due to the attention in the build-up being shifted from the Italians to Welsh milestones. With the focus on Alun Wyn Jones and Dan Biggar winning their 150th and 100th Welsh caps respectively, the former Wales and Lions fly-half felt a little uneasy about things.
"Where I think Wayne and the team got it wrong was the whole selection and build up," he told BBC Radio Wales.
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"It was all about the emotion. To be fair to Alun Wyn Jones and Dan Biggar, there was a celebration of their great achievements.
"But I'm always a bit worried when the focus isn't on the job in hand, and that was to beat Italy. And we deservedly didn't do that.
"The number of injuries has played a part in Wayne's selection. To me, the most important element of an international rugby coach is selection and I think last Saturday we got it miserably wrong."
Saturday saw Pivac became the third Welsh coach, after Steve Hansen and Gareth Jenkins, to lose to the Italians, while he is the first to suffer defeat on home soil. Despite that, Davies doesn't believe the Welsh Rugby Union will dispense with the former Scarlets coach's services just yet. He does however see an opportunity for change.
"I don't think the Union will sack him," he added. "It's always been the case that coaches don't want the scrutiny of someone who really understands the game. They don't want to be overseen by directors of rugby or performance directors. I think it's a golden opportunity for Nigel Walker, the recently-appointed performance director, to really make a mark.
"If he's head of performance, then surely the Welsh national team comes under his remit. I think it's time rugby people got more involved and Nigel would have the qualifications to do that."
When pressed upon how he would improve the fortunes of Welsh rugby, he floated the idea of culling the Welsh Premiership to no more than eight teams in order to improve the development pathway. You can read an explanation of the current Welsh rugby crisis here.
"Most of the pundits throw everything into the basket," he said. "Sack the coach, the game needs to be reorganised, throw more money at the regions.
"The performance end is critical and that applies to the coaching team, but there's a wider debate lower down. We talk about the Premiership and the opportunity for young boys to have games.
"For me, the Premiership needs to be culled. It needs to be down to eight teams at most and young people need to play in those games. The problem is that Welsh rugby is all about self-preservation.
"Most of the Premiership clubs probably agree that eight is the right number, but as long as that includes them. That is the problem in Welsh rugby. This business that 'as long as it fits me, it's fine, but I'm not giving anything up'."
Davies agreed that the four professional sides were also struggling, but insisted his suggestion would help that with how it developed players. He added: "One things leads to another. You're going to develop players differently.
"At the moment, the emphasis is on the academies and you could argue whether that's working or not. But we have to create that level below, but not just for the sake of preserving clubs.
"Yes, club rugby is important but if we're talking about developing players, that's the area to concentrate on. The Premiership through to the regions and hopefully a pipeline comes through."
Davies also opened up on the barriers in place that could make such changes a nightmare to actually implement. Having served as chairman, few are better placed to understand the obstructive nature of the WRU, with Davies himself essentially ousted by the clubs as he tried to reform.
"We tried to put a structure in place where we created a professional rugby board," he added. "The professional and amateur games are split to a degree.
"I put my hands up, I didn't get anywhere as far as I wanted to. And that's because of the system that runs Welsh rugby. The constitution is broken, there are things that should be quickly repaired.
"Every other week when I was at the union, if you wanted to change anything you were almost threatened by an EGM. 10 per cent of the clubs - 30 clubs - could call an EGM. So you're always up against the threat of an EGM that's going to get rid of the chief executive or chairman or whatever.
"Until the constitution is repaired or ripped up I think we're going to continually face these squabbles of 'my little patch' and that's the problem we have in Welsh rugby. It's 'my little patch' not what's right for the game."
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