Wales’ unforgivable loss to Georgia in Cardiff should raise serious doubts as a manager.
So said Jamie Roberts after Wayne Pivac’s side fell 13-12 at a horror show at Principality Stadium on Saturday.
Former Wales captain Sam Warburton also commented, describing the defeat as unacceptable and hinting at “deepening problems” and “things we may not know” that affect players’ motivation.
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Wales had their worst performance of the Pivak era, with their weak forwards and their hopelessly dull attack. They failed to score after 24 minutes, split into scrums when the game boiled over, and made just two clean breaks in the entire game against their second-tier opposition.
The setback came after a home defeat against Italy in the Six Nations Tournament.
And that forced Roberts to consider those running the team.
“I think there are serious questions to be asked on the coaching side,” he said on Amazon Prime Video.
“We are talking about the motivation of the players. As a player, yes, you play for your country and carry all three feathers, but you also play for your coach.
“And to see a Welsh team come out at half-time and play like that is unacceptable.
“Then you need to ask serious questions.”
The multi-award winning centre-back, himself 94-time national and international captain for his country, agreed “without a doubt” that it was the worst performance he has seen from Wales in Cardiff. “Wales looked like they lacked will,” he said. “That’s what disappointed me. This is what will disappoint the Welsh rugby crowd the most. You are playing at home against Georgia. No disrespect to Georgia, but this is a game we have to win.
“Wales lost to Italy and Georgia in the space of 12 months this year.
“This is an inexcusable and very, very disappointing result from a Welsh point of view.”
Asked if he noticed life in the team, he replied: “There wasn’t.
“Certainly on Wednesday when I was fighting for the game, I didn’t see any fighting from the Welsh. The skirmish placed him in a capsule.
“I think the problems are a little deeper. You look at the top five who participated in the last two fights. Jones, Wainwright, Roberts, very inexperienced. I would blame the system for Wayne not showing these players enough in recent years to handle these on-pitch situations when it comes to critical moments in Test matches.
“Talk about responsibility. I think the onus is on him as head coach.
“It is unacceptable for Wales to lose to Georgia in a World Cup year.”
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Her Amazon Prime co-star Warburton was unimpressed, saying: “We play Taulupe Faletau, Justin Tipuric. I loved playing with these guys. They are true rugby warriors and tough men. I don’t question them.
“But I wonder if it doesn’t express itself in the field, then there must be some deeper underlying issues. Players: why aren’t they motivated? Why aren’t they desperate? I don’t know what the answer is. I don’t challenge the players. There are some great strong competitors, some of the best players I’ve ever played with. But for some reason it doesn’t show on the pitch and there’s something that maybe we don’t know, so maybe they’re not fully motivated right now.”
He said he did not hear the Wales players throwing each other during the match. “I listened to the reference mic and heard nothing.
“I remember [when he played] we were losing to a so called minor nation and during a team game one of the older guys said “we can’t lose”. It’s literally unacceptable to lose to this nation.” We went out and won in the second half.
“I also participated in some bad results.
“We were all there as players.
But this is not Wales [losing to Georgia]🇧🇷
“We cannot go down to this level.
“It’s great that Georgia won. It’s great to play. But we play at home. If you’re going on a summer tour in the year of Leo, you can swallow that, but it’s still hard to swallow. We will not lose to Georgia in the autumn series, 10 months before the World Cup. This is unacceptable.”
(Image: Harry Trump/Getty Images)
Warburton also focused on how the game is played in Wales.
“It’s easy for us to see situations on the pitch and what’s going on. What high ball did we miss? What fight is back? At what critical moment did we go wrong?
“The problems are much deeper.
“It was in the press a few weeks ago: the government and the WRU. There are people with the best intentions who have done a brilliant job supporting the community game, and it definitely should be a place to be. But he is unlikely to be involved in deciding what happens to the £100m company. We are trying to win the Rugby World Cup. It is an old structure that has existed for a long time and is completely unsuitable for modern rugby. That has to change.
“All good organizations start at the top.
“We can look at the field, but we need to look further because the problems are much deeper.
“The cracks have been there for a long time and now they are finally being resolved.
“It’s a hard truth.”
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Source: Wales Online
I’m George Gonzalez, a professional journalist and author at The Nation View. With more than 5 years of experience in the field, I specialize in covering sports news for various print media outlets. My passion for writing has enabled me to craft stories that capture the attention of readers all over the world.
