All Blacks: Wayne Pivac reveals the ‘red flags’ he saw ahead of Scott Robertson’s axing
Former All Blacks head coach Scott Robertson and ex-Wales boss Wayne Pivac (inset).
Former Wales boss Wayne Pivac has revealed that he saw some red flags ahead of Scott Robertson being axed from his position as All Blacks head coach.
New Zealand Rugby (NZR) confirmed last week that Robertson was fired just two years into a four-year contract.
This, after a review which was undertaken by NZR chairman David Kirk, former All Blacks hooker and NZR board member Keven Mealamu, as well as ex-NZR high performance manager Don Tricker.
Pivac, who initially worked as a police officer in New Zealand, was Wales’ head coach from 2020 to 2022 but also coached Fiji from 2004 to 2007 and has close to 30 years’ experience of coaching at club and provincial levels in New Zealand, Wales and Japan.
He appeared on the DSPN podcast with Martin Devlin and said there were some warning signs in the build-up to Robertson‘s dismissal.
‘That was a big red flag for me’
“You look at the performance on the field, and you look at what’s going on off the field, and the first red flag for me was when a guy like Leon McDonald, who is obviously a good All Black, a Cantabrian and a Crusader, when he walks out on an All Black job after a short period of time, that was a big red flag for me,” he said.
“And then you get Jason Holland, so these questions have got to be asked there, I guess, and have been asked as to why that happened.
“But then you look at the performances on the field, and for me, as an outsider watching, consistency is the big thing that you want, and that’s probably what we lacked with Wales. When I was there, we’d have a winner Six Nations, then come fifth. That’s not consistent enough.
“And so it’s trying to get the balance between the development of a squad and also the consistent results the public want, and the union want, and all the stakeholders want.
“So I guess, if you’re being brutally honest, we hadn’t seen the consistency in the results. Losing to Argentina in Argentina the first time, some big scores, South Africa 40 points, those sorts of things after winning in Eden Park in what was a great battle.
“So, it’s just that consistency that I think most people were looking for and wondering when that was going to come.”
He revealed that being fired is part and parcel of the job as a head coach in the modern game, especially when you’re in charge of a national team but although the role comes with plenty of pressure, it’s not the end of the world once you get fired.
“When you go into this job, the history, there’s been coaches that have been moved on in the past,” said Pivac.
‘It’s something that you’re aware of going into the role’
“There’s an old saying, ‘There are coaches that have been sacked and those that are waiting to be sacked’. But in this day and age now, it’s happening more and more often at the end. So, it’s something that you’re aware of going into the role.
“When you take on a national job, there’s a lot at stake. When you have a Test-match twin, I know my experience with Wales and Fiji, it can change the mood of a population. Productivity goes up after a good win, and it can go down after a bad loss.
“And my time in the police also would show that there’s all sorts of things that you don’t think about as the average person when watching a game of rugby.
“But you’re aware of all those things when you’re in the top job. It’s tough on the family, probably more than yourself.
“You know, all coaches have egos, and it’s a bit of a dent to be told that you’re not required or wanted. So, it’s not a nice thing to have happen, but certainly you crack on and you get on with it. Life does move on.
“The sun comes up in the morning.”
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