Wayne Pivac insists he isn't worried about a clamour for his head following Saturday's shock defeat to Italy and says he is focused on dealing with the "improvements that need to happen."
Pivac addressed his future after Wales ended their Six Nations title defence in woeful fashion, falling to their first defeat to the Italians on home soil in history. That left them finishing fifth in a campaign when they won just one out of five matches.
The poor run of results, and in particular the woeful display against perennial Six Nations losers Italy, has seen many call for Pivac to go. However, while the beleaguered Wales coach admitted his critics were free to think that, he maintained it was a case of persevering with what he is doing.
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"They're entitled to their view," he said of his critics. Pivac continued: "On the basis of the competition we had last year with the squad last year and what we did over the last three weeks building depth and having very credible performances against quality opposition, today is a backwards step.
"There's no doubt about that and there's no hiding from that. Albeit 60 seconds, we're probably having a different conversation about a poor performance, but still a win.
"It's fine margins, but we have to stay strong and believe in what we're doing. This group does that and we believe in the players that we have. We'll review this game and make sure the improvements that need to happen, happen.
"Everybody heads in different directions in terms of the players and for us it's a matter of reviewing and staying focused, working on what we do.
"There are people in positions higher up than myself that make the decisions you're alluding to. Look, I'm not bothered by that. It's about doing what we think is the right thing for this group and today we believed in the squad we put out there.
"We didn't play to our potential, we believe, so we have to find out why that was. Certainly, there was enough in a poor performance to have won this game three tries to nil."
Pivac also elaborated on the mood amongst the players and coaching staff after the defeat, describing it as the "lowest point" for many in the side. However, he insisted the focus was now on learning from their mistakes.
"Nobody reviews their performance harder than the coaching group, and secondly the playing group. Everybody will have a look at this, review it individually and attack, defence, every part of the game and the units within that.
"It will be very thorough. We'll review the whole competition after this game, look at the positives and negatives and make sure we build from this campaign.
"We have to, because if we don't it's been a waste of time. Certainly a loss can only be accepted if we improve as a group and build on it, but it's very frustrating for everyone concerned right at the minute.
"I think you can imagine how low it was. It’s probably the lowest point in most of the players’ careers in terms of pulling on the Welsh jersey and the pride they have in doing that.
"A game at home against Italy, losing that was certainly not in the script so it’s very very disappointing. The coaches are no different, the management are no different. So you have to make sure that the hurt – you go through it and never want to repeat it."
