With a day less than Scotland to prepare for Round 2 at BT Murrayfield this weekend, the Wales head coach could be without up to four members of his starting XV against the Irish.
Dan Lydiate’s return to the international fold only lasted 13 minutes before he went off with a right knee injury. He will be scanned this week with fears it could be a cruciate ligament injury.
Centre Johnny Williams went off for an HIA after clashing with Robbie Henshaw and didn’t return. Hallam Amos was another who left the field in the second half to have a head assessment. Pivac is also unlikely to have scrum half Tomos Williams available for Scotland after suffering a hamstring injury at the end of the first half.
“We’ve picked up a few injuries, so we’re looking at those now. We’re sort of counting the walking wounded after that one,” said Pivac.
“Dan Lydiate’s knee injury will be scanned, but it’s not looking too good. It could be an ACL, but we’ll wait for a definite result on that. It’s very disappointing for Dan and he was very disappointed in the changing room.
“Johnny Williams went off for an HIA and didn’t come back on. The other one was Hallam Amos who took a late knock.
“With a six-day turnaround before Scotland it means any players with head knocks are gone. That means we’ll lose a couple of players straight away.
“Then we’ve got a hamstring for Tomos Williams, which we’re hoping is not serious. I wouldn’t have thought it will turn round in six days. We’ll see how the rest of the squad is tomorrow and look at what sort of side we can put together on Tuesday.”
If the injuries were the downside of the 21-16 victory, they couldn’t dent the pride Pivac and his coaching team felt at seeing their side upset one of the favourites for the title. The win means the Irish have been beaten in Cardiff in the Championship on their last four visits.
“It was game one, so to get off to a winning start was very important. It was a mixed performance, really. Our scrum went well, which was a big improvement on the last outing, but there are still things to tidy up on in our line-out on our ball.
“On their ball we turned some over and put pressure on, so it was a mixed bag in that area of the game. It was our discipline which cost us last time, when they kicked 18 points. That’s what got them back into this game and put pressure on us throughout.
“We really have to have a look at that area of the game and what’s causing those penalties. We must make sure we tidy that up.”
What did please the Wales boss, though, was the way Georg North and Louis Rees-Zammit took their tries in the second half to spearhead Wales’ second half revival. It was try No 42 for Wales from North on his 99th appearance for his country.
“It was good to see them both cross and a really good finish from Louis. George just used his power and pace and took good advantage of that opportunity – you’d expect that from a player of his experience,” added Pivac.
“It was a fantastic finish from Louis. We’re just disappointed we put ourselves under so much pressure in the end. We could have won the game at the scrum put-in, looked at creating one phase, cleaning out that ruck and then kicking the ball out.
“But we put ourselves under a bit more pressure for another three to four minutes. We have discussed that in the changing room as well. In a game like that with the injuries, we did not really need that.
“The players had already called the play and knew what they needed to do to make one last ruck and get the ball out, but there was one player on the pitch who wasn’t on the same page and Ireland got the ball back. Unfortunately it meant a lot more defending and a lot more out of the tank before a six-day turnaround.”
The Irish challenge took a dent when Peter O’Mahony was sent off in the 14th minute for a reckless drive into a ruck that saw his elbow collide with the head of Wales prop Tomos Francis. Wales went six points ahead thanks to two penalties from Leigh halfpenny, but were then hit by a burst of 13 points from the pumped up visitors.
“They didn’t adjust what they were doing, they did exactly what we thought they would do. We talked around our discipline and how important it was after the last time we played them, and I think after the sending off we conceded the next six penalties,” said Pivac.
“It was very difficult to get our hands on the ball and the possession and territory stats showed that right away. We talked about that at half-time and the third 20 minutes were a lot better and we managed to claw our way back into the game and get two scores ahead.
“To get a win in circumstances like today was important. Since taking over the role it has really been about this competition. It was day one, round one and it was very important we got a win. Now we’ve got to re-focus before facing a very confident and very strong Scotland squad in their backyard after a very good win.”
