By Alex Bywater
Wales have been told their supporters’ patience is wearing thin and they must beat Scotland on Saturday to avoid losing five games in a row for the first time since 2016.
Wayne Pivac’s side returned to action after six months with a poor performance against France last Saturday and the result was a heavy five-try friendly defeat.
It was a fourth straight loss for Wales who finish off their Six Nations campaign behind closed door against Scotland in Llanelli.
Pivac succeeded the hugely successful Warren Gatland as head coach at the end of last year, but his first 12 months has been dominated by poor results and a long break enforced by the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Things do take time, but I’m fully aware in international rugby you don’t get given much of it. That’s the reality,” said Wales attack coach and former fly-half Stephen Jones.
“The way I see it is Scotland is a must-win game for us and we are excited for it. We’ve highlighted the areas we have to focus on from the hit-out against France. Our job as coaches is to nail that.”
Wales were awful against France. Their defence was all at sea and they lost the physical battle.
The pressure on Pivac will go up a notch if Scotland win for the first time in Wales since 2002 and scrum-half Rhys Webb is a doubt for Saturday’s game with a knee problem.
Last Scotland away win v Wales was in April 2002, starting 10s were Stephen Jones and Gregor Townsend
— Russ Petty (@rpetty80) October 27, 2020
Prop Samson Lee is going through the return-to-play protocols after suffering a head injury against France but backs Dan Biggar and Nick Tompkins are training.
Scotland are set to have Exeter Chiefs’ double-winning duo Stuart Hogg and Jonny Gray back for Wales with mercurial Racing 92 playmaker Finn Russell in contention to start.
“There are some areas we’ve highlighted from the France game that we’ve fixed already in training,” said Jones.
“It’ll be good post-Scotland to see what has been plugged and what is on point.”
