Wayne Pivac faced the media as the pressure grows on his future as Wales coach.
After naming his team to face Australia in the final autumn international, here's what he had to say:
Question: Why have you chosen to hand Joe Hawkins a debut?
Wayne Pivac: "He’s been with us for the entire camp. He’s had five weeks of training. He’s looked good in training. He’s a confident young man. He’s got a good skill set.
"He’s got physical attributes that lend to him doing well at this level of the game. He’s really excited and is jumping at the opportunity. He’s disappointed he didn’t get an opportunity last week, but, as we say, seven days is a long time in this sport and he gets that opportunity."
Read more: The verdict on Wales team to face Australia as Pivac fights for his job
How big is it to bring back the experience of Taulupe Faletau, Alun Wyn Jones and Leigh Halfpenny?
"All you’ve mentioned have vast experience. They bring a lot to the team in their performances, but also leadership in particular with Al is massive. He’s been captain for a long, long time until recently. That’ll be something we look to utilise throughout the 80 minutes."
You said a week is a long time in rugby, how is the atmosphere in squad this week?
"Monday was as you’d expect. It was a day that no one really enjoys coming to work. It was a very, very dark day on Saturday afternoon. We acknowledge that.
"But it’s about being professional and going through the performance and looking at the week we had going into it. You can’t dwell on it for too long. We’ve had those discussions and we’ve moved forward. Tuesday and today [Thursday] were some of our best training sessions in camp."
Are Australia in a desperate position like you this week?
"Very similar in a lot of ways. It’s the end of their season. They’ll be desperate to finish on a high. We played each other in the last match last year.
"I know Dave [Rennie] was disappointed to lose that at the death last year. They’ll come with one aim to win, regardless of what side they have. We’re doing the same and one team will."
Do you feel your job is on line?
"Other people make those decisions. What we do internally is make sure we prepare the best we can. I can’t get side-tracked by those sort of things. At the end of the day, it’s the professional environment we’re in. We know there’s a lot at stake, clearly. We’re here rolling our sleeves up this week to try and get the result everyone wants."
Have you had any contact with the Welsh Rugby Union this week?
"Just the usual. We have weekly contact in every camp and this week has been no different."
What was said in your meeting with the WRU hierarchy?
It’s just the standard, focusing on the here and now. We review campaigns at the end of the campaign, not during. So it’s just standard things discussing what we’re doing this week and how we can improve the performance - normal conversations we’d have.
Is this your most difficult moment as a coach?
"It’s very, very disappointing to be in this position. As head coach, the responsibility lies with me for a lot of the decision-making. I don’t shy away from that. What we do is look at what we can control.
"That’s been every day we come in this week, maximising how we get the team right mentally and physically. That’s certainly been the focus of everyone this week. Players have been very honest in reviews and gone out and been physical in training."
Is it difficult to plan ahead with pressing concerns?
"There’s always the big picture in the background. Martyn Williams has been in France the first few days of this week. Things go on, there’s been a big conference in London the last few days for CEOs and coaches that aren’t involved in matches this week. Things go on for World Cup planning in the background . We’re off to France on Sunday. Nothing changes in that respect."
The defeat to Italy seemed to lead to some soul-searching ahead of the South Africa tour - can you understand why people maybe think you haven't learned the lessons from then?
"100 per cent [I can see that]. If I was on the outside, without all the information, on the straight results, I’d be asking the same questions."
Why couldn't the players bring that intensity?
"In team sport, a lot of things have to come together. You need possession and territory and to be able to hold onto the ball to build pressure. We weren’t able to do that in the second half. I think we had about 13 phases in 40 minutes with the ball. That’s unheard of. There were a lot of strike plays where we turned the ball over for one reason or another a lot in the first phase.
"They grew in confidence and next thing we had a yellow card and a try was scored. We have to make sure that we’re clinical to finish them off before half-time if you replicate that game. We had opportunities to do that. We weren’t clinical enough to do that. Three or four tries by half-time was achievable by half-time last week."
How has the WRU's impasse with regions affected players?
"Only players can answer that. There are discussions that are ongoing around what’s happening between the two parties. What we try to do is keep the boys focused on what’s in front of them. That’s a few Test matches. We talk about worrying about that after camp. But only players can fix that."
How much do you want those discussions resolved as head coach of Wales?
"Very keen. I think everybody in Wales would like to see it resolved. Let’s hope we get some good news shortly."
Read next:
- Pivac comes out fighting and says no talks on his future with WRU bosses
- Wales hand debut to Ospreys youngster Joe Hawkins as Pivac makes six changes
- Sam Warburton calls for Welsh rugby to be ripped apart from top to bottom
- Three years of Wayne Pivac and what he's actually done with Wales
- Nigel Owens publishes vile homophobic letter posted to his house by steel worker
