Woeful Wales Walloped

I guess we all expected it. Wales were on the end of a thorough thrashing against South Africa in Cardiff yesterday. To lose at home by 0-73 is a massive defeat in anyone’s book. As someone once said, “Wales were lucky to get the nil”.

It was, quite frankly, horrible to sit in the stand with the other muted Welsh supporters as Wales were dismantled by fitter, stronger and better players. Admittedly Wales were well below full strength and this really was a mismatch right from the outset. South Africa were missing some front-line players as well but such is their current strength in depth it doesn’t really make that much of a difference. It is quite clear that the step up between playing for a Welsh Region and playing test rugby is huge.

The Springboks started by totally dominating the Welsh scrum as they had done in their match against Ireland. From there the penalties galore gave them all the possession and territory they could need. It was then down to the powerful running of forwards and backs alike which Wales just couldn’t contain. It was men against boys and one way traffic. Wales tried their utmost but just could not compete.

If I look back on the four Autumn internationals, which resulted in three heavy defeats and a rather fortunate win against Japan, the enormity of the job facing the new coaching team becomes very clear. The Six Nations is just around the corner and they will be without the inspiration of Jac Morgan for at least some of them. At this moment, it is hard to see where a Welsh victory is going to come from. I will be there to watch the home games and I will travel in hope rather than the expectation of positive results. The visits to Ireland and England are very tough nuts to crack I fear and will be watched from behind the sofa.

All this with a background of nothing short of chaos as the WRU endeavour to find a way forward for Welsh rugby. Although watching Pontypool is a little disappointing at the moment, it is a good way of getting my rugby fix as cleverer people than I try and sort out the mess that is regional rugby. Good luck to them!