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.<\/p>\n
New Zealand Rugby (NZR) confirmed last week that Robertson was fired just two years into a four-year contract.<\/p>\n
This, after a review which was undertaken by NZR chairman David Kirk, former All Blacks<\/a> hooker and NZR board member Keven Mealamu, as well as ex-NZR high performance manager Don Tricker.<\/p>\n Pivac<\/a>, who initially worked as a police officer in New Zealand, was Wales\u2019 head coach from 2020 to 2022 but also coached Fiji from 2004 to 2007 and has close to 30 years\u2019 experience of coaching at club and provincial levels in New Zealand, Wales and Japan.<\/p>\n He appeared on the DSPN<\/a> podcast with Martin Devlin and said there were some warning signs in the build-up to Robertson<\/a>\u2018s dismissal.<\/p>\n \u2018That was a big red flag for me\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cYou look at the performance on the field, and you look at what\u2019s 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,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd 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.<\/p>\n \u201cBut 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\u2019s probably what we lacked with Wales. When I was there, we\u2019d have a winner Six Nations, then come fifth. That\u2019s not consistent enough.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd so it\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n \u201cSo I guess, if you\u2019re being brutally honest, we hadn\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n Loose Pass: Unpacking Scott Robertson\u2019s \u2018sudden\u2019 All Blacks exit and why the next move is \u2018all or nothing\u2019 for New Zealand Rugby<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cSo, it\u2019s just that consistency that I think most people were looking for and wondering when that was going to come.\u201d<\/p>\n He revealed that being fired is part and parcel of the job as a head coach in the modern game, especially when you\u2019re in charge of a national team but although the role comes with plenty of pressure, it\u2019s not the end of the world once you get fired.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you go into this job, the history, there\u2019s been coaches that have been moved on in the past,\u201d said Pivac.<\/p>\n \u2018It\u2019s something that you\u2019re aware of going into the role\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s an old saying, \u2018There are coaches that have been sacked and those that are waiting to be sacked\u2019. But in this day and age now, it\u2019s happening more and more often at the end. So, it\u2019s something that you\u2019re aware of going into the role.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you take on a national job, there\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd my time in the police also would show that there\u2019s all sorts of things that you don\u2019t think about as the average person when watching a game of rugby.<\/p>\n \u201cBut you\u2019re aware of all those things when you\u2019re in the top job. It\u2019s tough on the family, probably more than yourself.<\/p>\n \u201cYou know, all coaches have egos, and it\u2019s a bit of a dent to be told that you\u2019re not required or wanted. So, it\u2019s not a nice thing to have happen, but certainly you crack on and you get on with it. Life does move on.<\/p>\n \u201cThe sun comes up in the morning.\u201d<\/p>\n Want more from Planet Rugby? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list<\/a> for world-class coverage you can trust.<\/p>\n