Wayne Pivac rejects Sir Clive Woodward's 'lost focus' claim
- Published
Wayne Pivac admits Scarlets are not the side they were last season because of injuries and players leaving
Wayne Pivac has rejected Sir Clive Woodward's claim that he has lost focus since learning he would succeed Warren Gatland as Wales coach next year.
Woodward wrote in his newspaper column that Scarlets boss Pivac should have "taken a sabbatical" when his appointment was announced in July.
Scarlets have only won six out of 14 matches in all competitions this season.
But Pivac insists nobody is "working any less than they did" last year.
The Scarlets were crowned Pro12 champions in 2016-17, and last season they reached the semi-finals of the European Champions Cup and the final of the Guinness Pro14 - beaten by Leinster on both occasions.
But with injuries and players such as Tadhg Beirne and John Barclay having left for clubs in their homelands, the Scarlets are yet to impress this season.
They are currently bottom of their European pool having lost the first four group games, and second in their Pro14 conference.
Writing in his Daily Mail column, Woodward also accused the Scarlets of "losing their focus as a region" and even said of Pivac: "I'm sure some in Wales will be questioning if they've got the right guy before he's started!"
But Pivac, who will succeed fellow Kiwi Gatland after the 2019 World Cup, dismissed Woodward's suggestion that the Scarlets' form was the result of his appointment.
"You know how long our seasons are but I don't think many people would drop from a 100 to 90% in their effort," Pivac said.
"Most coaches are pretty proud people and I don't know too many who would just give up on a job with 12 months to go.
"We do a lot of hard work and go through a lot of highs and lows.
"People are obviously going to look at our results, we look at them harder than anybody else does so we're well aware of where we're at.
"Nobody in the group is working any less than they did last year or the year before."