New Wales coach Pivac: Scoring 43 points ‘a sign of what we want to do’

Wayne Pivac saw encouraging signs for the future as his Wales reign began with a 43-33 victory over Warren Gatland’s Barbarians in Cardiff.

Former Scarlets coach Pivac was at the helm for the first time and he made a winning start against his predecessor Gatland’s team, Wales running in six tries to the BaaBaas’ five.

Josh Adams, the leading try-scorer at the Rugby World Cup, scored a brace, as did hooker Ken Owens, and Pivac was pleased with what he saw from his team in attack.

However, with Wales having led 33-7 early in the second half, Pivac admitted there is work to do defensively ahead of their Six Nations title defence.

“A lot of good work went in during the week,” Pivac said at a news conference after the win.

“There’s a lot of info to take on in a week, but scoring 43 points was a sign of what we want to do. We need to tighten up the defence but it’s promising.

“The boys have been fantastic. We’re pleased to get the win and focus on the Six Nations.”

.@JoshAdams951‘s try-scoring form of #RWC2019 has carried over to this fixture today in Cardiff. Here he is scoring his second against the Baa-Baas. pic.twitter.com/j9Pm1i43Gc

— Welsh Rugby Union (@WelshRugbyUnion) November 30, 2019

Wales’ victory came without captain Alun Wyn Jones and star backs Liam Williams, George North and Jonathan Davies.

With wing Johnny McNicholl having scored a try on debut, too, Pivac is buoyant about the future.

“The first thing we’ll do is review the game,” he explained.

“It’s been a valuable week. There were some well-known faces in the stand and they’ll look forward to coming back into the fold.”

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