Wales will be hoping to end a year to forget on something of a high when they host Italy in the Autumn Nations Cup fifth-place play-off on Saturday.

Since then, however, they have lost seven of their eight Test matches and Pivac is already facing questions about his future after just a year in the job.

Wales endured their worst Six Nations since 2007 and, in the Autumn Nations Cup, a solitary win over Georgia has been bookended by losses to Ireland and England.

Welsh performances have attracted as much criticism as the results, with little sign of the more expansive attack Pivac had promised at the beginning of his tenure.

The New Zealander has used the Autumn Nations Cup to experiment, handing debuts to several players in an attempt to improve Wales' strength in depth.

And while some of those newcomers have shown promise, the regularity with which Pivac has tinkered with selection has contributed to Wales' desperate lack of cohesion.

The former Scarlets coach made 13 changes for last weekend's defeat by England, and he has followed that with another nine for Saturday's match against Italy.

Expectations are low but Wales will still be expected to beat the Azzurri, who have lost their past eight matches in all competitions.

And as well as securing a rare victory, Pivac will also be hoping his side can finally deliver a convincing performance.

Team news

Wales have recalled George North at outside centre in a team showing nine changes from last weekend's loss to England.

Half-backs Kieran Hardy and Callum Sheedy are handed second starts.

Flanker Justin Tipuric is fit after missing the England defeat through concussion, while full-back Liam Williams returns after 15 stitches in a lip wound picked up against Georgia.

Nicky Smith, Sam Parry and Tomas Francis comprise a new-look front row, with hooker Parry making his first start for Wales after three appearances from the bench.

Will Rowlands partners Alun Wyn Jones in the second row with James Botham lining up alongside Tipuric and Taulupe Faletau in the back row.

For Italy, meanwhile, Welsh-born teenage scrum-half Stephen Varney will make his first start for the Azzurri against the country of his birth.

Varney was brought up in Pembrokeshire but qualifies for Italy through his Italian-born grandparents on the side of his mother Valeria.

There is also a debut for Monty Ioane, nephew of former Australian wing Digby.

Australian-born Benetton wing Ioane has just qualified through residency. Jacopo Trulla switches to full-back.

View from both camps

Wales head coach Wayne Pivac: "Saturday is another opportunity for these players and, for us as a squad, it is another opportunity to continue to build and to see the results of all the hard work in training.

"We have blooded eight new caps this campaign and importantly by the end of the match each of them would have had a number of appearances to their name.

"From the outset we wanted this campaign to be about giving players opportunity and we have done that.

"The hard work in training is coming through and we want to show that again on Saturday and finish the campaign on a high, with the performance and result we want."

Italy head coach Franco Smith: "We want to finish the tournament in the best possible way.

"We have a new opportunity to be able to take the field and try to show our worth.

"Wales are an experienced team and need no introduction. The focus needs to be on our performance."

Line-ups

Wales: Liam Williams; Josh Adams, George North, Johnny Williams, Louis Rees-Zammit; Callum Sheedy, Kieran Hardy; Nicky Smith, Sam Parry, Tomas Francis, Will Rowlands, Alun Wyn Jones (capt), James Botham, Justin Tipuric, Taulupe Faletau.

Replacements: Elliot Dee, Wyn Jones, Leon Brown, Cory Hill, Aaron Wainwright, Gareth Davies, Ioan Lloyd, Jonah Holmes.

Italy: Jacopo Trulla; Luca Sperandio, Marco Zanon, Carlo Canna, Monty Ioane; Paolo Garbisi, Stephen Varney; Danilo Fischetti, Luca Bigi (capt), Giosuè Zilocchi, Marco Lazzaroni, Niccolo Cannone, Maxime Mbanda, Johan Meyer, Braam Steyn.

Replacements: Leonardo Ghiraldini, Simone Ferrari, Pietro Ceccarelli, Cristian Stoian, Michele Lamaro, Guglielmo Palazzani, Tommaso Allan, Federico Mori.

Match officials

Referee: Wayne Barnes (RFU)

Assistant referees: Luke Pearce (RFU) and Alex Ruiz (FFR)

Television match official: Pascal Gauzere (FFR)

Match facts