Wayne Pivac has hit back at criticism over Wales' inconsistent form after their embarrassing defeat to Italy, adding that few will care if they succeed at next year's Rugby World Cup.
His time in charge of Wales has bounced between lows and highs, with last year's Six Nations triumph following a losing autumn run. Now, though, Wales have slumped to a fifth-place finish in the Six Nations and recorded a first defeat to Italy in 15 years. But Pivac has urged fans to look at the big picture with the Rugby World Cup taking place next year in France.
"If we go to the World Cup and get through the quarter-finals, win a quarter-final and get through to the semi-final, everyone will be happy," Pivac said after Wales' stunning 21-22 defeat in Cardiff. "We’re not going to lose focus on what the big goal is here and what the big picture is.
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"Yes, today is a bitter pill to swallow for everybody. We have to learn from the performance and get better. I’m hoping we take a step forward in the summer against the world champions in their backward [in South Africa], which is going to be a challenge. We go there with an idea of how far we are from the world champions 12 months out from a World Cup. So it’s not a bad place to be when you look at it from that point of view. We’re gutted with the result. No one is happy with a performance like that, especially when you give away 12 points through discipline in the first half, score three tries in the second half, get across the line, have moments where we could have pinned them back but let them slip. That’s pretty frustrating for everyone."
On another day when Wales flattered to deceive, Pivac dodged suggestions that it is hard to see what Wales are building towards. He also claimed Wales had managed to put in "three really good performances" in this year's tournament, referring to the win over Scotland and narrow defeats to England and France.
"I think everyone was pretty happy with the Six Nations last year and the way we were heading," he added. "Coming into the competition, some people in the media had us down for fourth, battling it out with Scotland. We had three really good performances in this competition and two we’re not proud of. It’s not the complete competition and we’ll get criticism for it, rightly so. Regardless of the team we put out for this, we believe we’re capable of winning this match. That’s not arrogant, that’s just being realistic. We just need to keep working hard behind the scenes, which we will be doing. We look towards the summer and then it’s into a World Cup season."
