'It isn't a case that intellectual property goes and the new one comes in'

Wayne Pivac has insisted he has no worries that a brain drain to one of Wales’ biggest Test rivals might hamper their chances of retaining the Six Nations in 2020.

On the day of the recent unveiling of his World Cup training squad, current Welsh boss Gatland hit out at the loss of his long-serving forwards coach Robin McBryde to Irish province Leinster, a development that could have a sequel as departing Wales backs coach Rob Howley is in talks about a possible move to Munster.

Speaking about McBryde’s post-Japan exit to Ireland, Gatland said: "From my point of view, it’s disappointing because he’s got 13 years of IP (intellectual property) that’s suddenly left Wales and gone over to our closest rivals.

"They have access to all that knowledge that he’s gained, knowledge of players, game plans, structures and how things were done.”

Pivac, though, isn’t too concerned about the possibility that two of Gatland’s most loyal assistants will switch from Wales to Ireland and take with them a mountain of experience.

"It happens," said Pivac on Tuesday to the BBC ahead of his last match in charge of Scarlets, Saturday’s PRO14 Champions Cup play-off against local rivals Ospreys. "Everyone has their tenure and they have had a fantastic tenure.

"The last 18 months has been tremendous to watch with the growth of the team. That's the exciting part of going in now and seeing whether we can add value to that. It isn't a case that intellectual property goes and the new one comes in.

"Within that intellectual property a group of players is a part of it, so there will be a lot of information shared early to make sure we aren't going in there and ripping things apart because it isn't broken.”

Pivac added that he believed the decision of Wales defence coach Shaun Edwards to seek employment elsewhere - most likely with the France national team - was driven by money.

"We had some talks with Shaun and they were productive, but we did not quite get it over the line," said the New Zealander. "It 's an individual choice and probably a financial one."

WATCH: Warren Gatland announce Wales' 2019 World Cup training squad