Gareth Williams: Wales assistant coach travels to South Africa despite Scarlets link
- Published
Gareth Williams replaced Sam Warburton in Wayne Pivac's Wales backroom staff
Wales assistant coach Gareth Williams will travel to South Africa as part of Wayne Pivac's backroom staff despite being linked with a move to Scarlets.
Wales leave later this week for a three-Test series with the Springboks, with contact area specialist Williams due to be on the flight.
Williams has been involved in negotiations with Scarlets about joining Dwayne Peel's backroom team.
No deal has officially been agreed yet by all parties.
"Nothing has changed, Gareth is full steam ahead in terms of training and is fully committed to this tour," said Pivac.
"There has been an approach which is nice for any coach from another organisation to say they would love to have you.
"It has been through the front door and we have been having open conversations about that.
"Nothing has been finalised and I would not be surprised if that does not happen until after the tour."
When asked whether he thought Williams 'potential move would be a distraction, Pivac added: "No, these things happen to players and coaches on a regular basis.
"We are just looking whether an alignment with a club would beneficial with the game in Wales.
"I think the short answer to that is yes. It's just about it being done in the timely manner so everybody gets what they need out of it.
"We talk about alignment all the time about country and club and you see that in Ireland and New Zealand and a lot of places and it is certainly something we can get better at and we are looking to do that."
Williams was appointed as a Wales assistant coach in June 2021 after moving into the role full-time from his previous position as the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) head of transitional players and head coach of Wales Under-20s.
He had been part of Pivac's coaching team since the 2020 autumn campaign, combining his roles within the WRU during the Autumn Nations Cup and the Six Nations title success.
Williams has worked across the WRU pathway since 2008 and spent a decade coaching Wales Sevens on the World Rugby series.
During that time he helped Wales win the Sevens World Cup in 2009, as well as assisting Team GB as they claimed silver at the Rio Olympics in 2016.
In 2018 Williams moved to become head coach of transitional players, monitoring player progress post age-grade and head coach of Wales Under-20s.
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