Wales ended their Six Nations campaign in embarrassing fashion, losing to Italy in Cardiff. Here's everything the Wales coach had to say afterwards:
Question: Was it a question of being unsure how to close out a narrow win while still looking for a bonus point?
Wayne Pivac: "We were definitely looking to win the game and achieve the goal of four tries. We had numerous opportunities to do that and a mixture of some very, very strong defence from Italy and errors from ourselves meant we weren’t able to get over the line. Ultimately, that was part of our downfall."
Read more: The shambolic Wales player ratings as Alun Wyn Jones and Dan Biggar's big day ends in disaster
What were your thoughts on Wyn Jones' disallowed try?
WP: "I think it’s in the wording, isn’t it? On-field no try. I thought he got across the line. He’s a big man and the ball is underneath him. If the ball didn’t touch a blade of grass, I’d be very surprised. However, when you ask an inexperienced TMO to have a look at it with no try on the field, the decision was no try. That’s frustrating but we still should have been better and got over the line."
How do you reflect on fifth place, a year after winning the title?
WP: "Very disappointing. A lot has happened since last year, that’s well documented. But we had an opportunity here. We came here with a goal of getting third which would have been a superb effort from the boys after round one. We’ve talked about it on the pitch and we’ll review it afterwards. We have to make sure that a performance like that, which is an unacceptable performance, doesn’t happen again."
Dan Biggar said it was a last chance for some. Is that the case and how does that ramp up the pressure on the squad now?
WP: "We’re not too worried about that pressure, it comes with the territory. It’s an emotional time after a game, especially when you haven’t played well but got in a position to win. When you don’t close it out and Italy score with the last play - well, with over a minute to go but that’s a different story about whether we get the kick-off or not.
"Dan is very frustrated. He’s a guy who has put so much into the jersey over the years. Let’s not forget the milestone he’s achieved today, and Alun Wyn. Clearly, he’s going to be disappointed. We’ll review this game and look at why we didn’t get over the line and win it."
Does this change things ahead of a tough summer tour in South Africa?
WP: "Nothing changes in terms of where we’re at and where we’re working towards. Obviously, that was not part of the plan, to lose this match. Certainly, it’s disappointing. What we do as a coaching group is review this game and probably spend more time looking at it than we’d liked to have.
"We have to look at why we didn’t have the energy or the urgency that the Italians came with, on such a great day, with the sun shining and milestones to motivate us. We have to go away and work out why we didn’t get the performance we were after."
In hindsight, did you perhaps pick the wrong team, making too many changes to face Italy?
WP: "I think that’s disrespecting the team that we put out. Clearly they didn’t perform as they would like as individuals, or collectively as a group. We’re disappointed as a group. But there’s enough talent out there to get the job done, we believed.
"Within the last play of the game, we got a job done in terms of winning, even with a disappointing performance. There’s so many one-off moments in the game that we’ll reflect on and look to make sure we don’t repeat. It’s one of frustration, but I’d always back the selection. We believe this squad has depth and you’ve seen some of these players play well in the past."
Another poor campaign, similar to 2020. Is it frustrating there's no consistent success?
WP: "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. We’re not going to lose focus on what the big goal is here and the big picture is. 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, 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."
Do you accept the criticism that many might be struggling to see the progress 18 months out from the World Cup?
WP: "I think everyone was pretty happy with the Six Nations last year and the way we were heading. 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."
It seemed to be another day when the attack struggled. What's the reason for that?
WP: "I don’t know that it struggled. I know that we didn’t finish a lot of opportunities we created. If we weren’t creating opportunities, I’d be a lot more concerned. But as you saw in that first half in their 22, we had three or four opportunities to score, but we dropped the final pass or the Italians gave away a penalty. It’s frustrating as we’re creating, but not finishing. That’s something we need to get right moving forward."
