Wayne Pivac: Wales coach denies departing defence coach Byron Hayward was scapegoat

Former defence coach Byron Hayward with Wales head coach Wayne Pivac

Wales boss Wayne Pivac has denied departed defence coach Byron Hayward has been made a scapegoat.

The Welsh Rugby Union revealed Hayward's departure on Sunday, just five days ahead of the Autumn Nations Cup opening match against Ireland.

Pivac insisted WRU bosses had not asked for changes to be made within the coaching team.

"No, it was my decision and I informed the necessary people at the appropriate time," said Pivac.

The Wales boss was asked directly whether senior players had raised concerns about Hayward's methods to him or the WRU.

Pivac replied: "I'm continually talking to players on a daily basis as what we do in terms of attack, defence, the whole lot.

"We're constantly reviewing training and classroom sessions, all those things are done on a daily basis and would be regardless of which coach we're talking about.

"The decision in relation to Byron was one he and I sat down and discussed, and it was a decision that I took."

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With five defeats in six competitive matches since Pivac took over officially from Warren Gatland in November 2019, Hayward appears to be the scapegoat but the coach denies this.

"No, it was a discussion between the two of us and we agreed it was the right thing to do for the team," said Pivac.

"Everything we do with this team, and it's one thing we talk about on a regular basis and ask the players to do, is put the team first and that's what we've done.

"We're just custodians in our roles and the Union will be here for a long long time.

"We've got to do what we think is best at the time. This is a very hard decision to make but we've made it and I stand by it."

Hayward's departure follows Sam Warburton leaving his role in the Wales defensive coaching set-up last month, with the former Wales captain replaced by fellow former Wales and British and Irish Lions team-mate Gethin Jenkins in a technical breakdown role.

Pivac was asked whether he could understand why it appears the Wales camp looks like a mess.

"Certainly, what counts from our point of view is making sure we stay focused on what we're doing on a daily basis," said Pivac.

"It's the feeling when I'm talking to the senior players and other coaches on where we think we're at with our game.

"Pre-Covid we were happy, even though we'd lost to England and France the changes we were making - which does take a bit of time - we were heading in the right direction.

"It's disappointing coming out of Covid with the two games that we've had.

"If we look at some of the Welsh clubs and look at some of the players some of them are in great shape, some of them aren't where they need to be, so there is a lot of work done with getting people up to speed as quickly as possible.

"We were disappointed with the Scotland game and there are things we need to rectify and we have spoken about that as a squad."

Pivac has insisted Hayward's departure was not a panic move as he looked towards the 2023 World Cup in France.

"It's looking at it and saying 'what do we want to be doing in 2023?'," said Pivac.

"That's the big goal and at this stage we've made a decision we weren't heading in the right direction with the defence, so we made the decision to make the change now rather than wait longer."

The Wales coach had worked with Hayward for five seasons at Scarlets before the year in the national job. Pivac repeatedly insisted Hayward had been involved in the process of his departure.

"It is a very hard decision because of the history between us," added Pivac.

"We have known each other for six and a half years and worked together. It was a difficult conversation.

"He is a friend away from the game and it's a tough conversation and one where we respect each other's views. It was a mutual agreement that basically what we are doing is putting the team first.

"We looked at what is best going through until the 2023 World Cup and we felt we weren't getting what we wanted from our defence, so the changes has been made.

"We just felt now was the time to make a change with the start of a new 2020-21 international season and going into the new Autumn Nations Cup. It was a very mature discussion and that is the result we came up with."

Jenkins will step up with more defensive responsibilities before a Hayward successor will be sought ahead of the 2021 Six Nations.

"We have got 12 training sessions to get through, four games of rugby, so we will manage from within the group.

"Gethin will step up and take some more responsibility with the defence. We have got an experienced person in Mark Kinnaird, who has worked along with Shaun Edwards for a number of years in that department as the head analyst for the defence.

"I will then certainly be looking and seeing what is out there, what's available, the sort of people that may be interested. With this sort of thing, a few names have come across the desk already. That's something we'll be looking at come the end of this competition."