'Disappointed' Pivac responds to Edwards comments as Premiership club declares interest

Confusion over the recruitment process for Wales’ defence coach after the 2019 World Cup has continued.

The clamour for Shaun Edwards to remain intensified following Wales’ Grand Slam success at the weekend.

In the aftermath Edwards said “the new coach [Wayne Pivac] is going in a different direction. He wants to do something different. So that’s where I’m at at the moment. So as it stands, come the end of the World Cup I’m unemployed.”

But now Wayne Pivac has said that Edwards was considered for the role, but ruled himself out.

“Shaun has done a fantastic job – we all know that. He’s a very, very good defence coach.

“Shaun was the first person I spoke with. He indicated early on he was under pressure from Wigan and that the timeline that was imposed on us were unrealistic.

“I talked around a process we would be going through. That was pre-autumn and pre-Six Nations. Shaun signed with Wigan and that put paid to the discussions going any further.

“Shaun knew he was on the shortlist, that he was the incumbent. We’d had a meeting and subsequent conversations.

“We are a little bit disappointed that’s come out over the weekend but we are certainly not going to let it detract from a great result at the weekend.

“It’s between Shaun and Wigan. I have no control over that. I only know about the discussions we had way back in August.”

And Wales have moved on since with Pivac adding “We have finished the process and we have recruited a defence coach and that will come out in due course, hopefully not too much longer”.

That new defence coach is expected to be Byron Hayward, who currently does that role with the Scarlets.

Edwards, meanwhile, had been expected to take over at Wigan Warriors “I agreed with Wigan and thought we would sign a contract, but then Wigan said, ‘it’s okay, we’ll sign one later’, and I thought that was unusual. And that was nine months ago. I agreed to go to Wigan, but I never signed a contract.

“I’ll consider all offers, league, union. All I can say is that I haven’t signed anything with anybody.”

Adrian Lam is currently in charge of Wigan, his appointment for the 2019 season having been announced alongside the hiring of Edwards from 2020.

One Premiership club has thrown its hat into the ring for Edwards, his former club Wasps.

“Certainly somebody like Shaun would be a fantastic statement for the club and it would be a fantastic addition to the coaching team,” Director of Rugby Dai Young told the Coventry Telegraph.

“Whether that will happen or not I don’t know is the honest answer. But if it’s not Shaun, we would still be in the market to looking to improve what we’ve got.”

“Any coaches available we’ve been talking to. There’s been lots of speculation about Shaun. Shaun is someone who would interest us, but I think he did his job advert yesterday didn’t he? Put himself out there.

“What Shaun said is right. Shaun has not signed for us, had not agreed with us. Yes we would be interested in the likes of Shaun and coaches of that ilk, who are few and far between.

“We’ve got nothing to announce on that front yet, we’re hoping we can get something done in the next two to three weeks.”

Watch: Kiwi Wayne Pivac speaks after getting the Wales job